{"id":324255,"date":"2025-08-07T04:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T04:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/324255\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T04:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T04:09:12","slug":"most-firms-in-northern-ireland-trading-healthily-despite-fierce-new-headwinds-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/324255\/","title":{"rendered":"Most firms in Northern Ireland \u2018trading healthily\u2019 despite fierce new headwinds \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three quarters of businesses in Northern Ireland continue to trade healthily, despite cost pressures, recruitment difficulties, and ongoing trade frictions, a survey says.<\/p>\n

But there remains a nervousness and uncertainty about the implications of proposed US tariff measures, according to respondents to the latest quarterly economic survey (QES) from the NI Chamber of Commerce in partnership with BDO NI, which gauged the views of 160 member organisations (accounting for 60,000 employees) between May 21 and June 9.<\/p>\n

The survey found that during quarter two, 79% of businesses were trading either well (35%) or reasonably (44%) well, although 15% admitted they were just covering costs and 6% were struggling or on the verge of closure.<\/p>\n

Manufacturers (48%) are slightly more confident around turnover growth for the next 12 months than services (42%), but confidence around profitability dipped for both sectors.<\/p>\n

\"Vodafone<\/a>\"Dublin<\/a><\/p>\n

Just over half (52%) of respondents reported seeing a slowdown in demand over the period (up from 46% in Q1), although that dip was only significant for 9% of those surveyed.<\/p>\n

Rising labour and input costs continue to put upward pressure on prices, posing challenges for margins and competitiveness, with expectations to raise prices remaining relatively high across both the manufacturing and services sectors.<\/p>\n

Recruitment difficulties remain high across both sectors. While 81% of manufacturers and 69% of services firms are actively hiring, the proportion reporting challenges in finding suitable candidates rose to 79% for manufacturing and 70% for services,which is seen as underscoring the continued tightness of the labour market across the economy.<\/p>\n

\"AWhile recruitment difficulties remain high, 69% of services firms in Northern Ireland are actively hiring, though most of them (70%) report challenges in finding suitable candidates <\/p>\n

\u201cThis research again highlights the tenacity and resilience of Northern Ireland businesses, who are trading well despite numerous challenges, including absorbing the cost of the autumn budget and dealing with protracted uncertainty in international markets,\u201d NI Chamber chief executive Suzanne Wylie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the mixed responses to recent changes in trading arrangements highlight the need for greater clarity and support. While 41% of respondents believe the EU-UK reset will positively impact the local economy, concerns persist around ongoing GB-NI trade frictions. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeparately, businesses are also uncertain about the implications of proposed US tariff measures, with views on their impact divided and many yet to form a clear assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking all this together with a new trade strategy, a new industrial strategy, and a new trade deal with India, it is imperative that the government provides Northern Ireland\u2019s businesses with clear timelines, detailed information, and robust support to navigate these changes and seize new opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Murphy, managing partner at BDO NI, added: \u201cNo matter what challenges and uncertainties businesses here have to face, it\u2019s heartening to see that such a large percentage is just getting on with it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is similar to where we have been in recent years and shows that, regardless of the wider economic picture, and no matter what the commentators say, our local firms persevere and succeed.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cGiven the positive economic momentum that recent quarters\u2019 results have shown us, it\u2019s clearthat the all too common spectre of \u2018uncertainty\u2019 no longer has the same hold over local businesses that it used to, and long may this continue. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd looking to the future, this momentum can be enhanced even further through collaboration with our elected representatives and other stakeholders, and it presents \u2018NI Plc\u2019 with a unique opportunity which we cannot afford to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three quarters of businesses in Northern Ireland continue to trade healthily, despite cost pressures, recruitment difficulties, and ongoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[54705,117126,4501,1700,1144,62194,3075,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-324255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-bdo","9":"tag-chamber-of-commerce","10":"tag-cost","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-recruitment","14":"tag-tariff","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114985524717372172","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}