According to the assessments of firms in non-construction industry and in services with more than 20 employees, sales appear to have slowed in the first nine months of 2019. These less positive assessments largely reflected the negative expectations for exports. Once again, more firms expected sales to increase than to decrease over the next six months, albeit less markedly compared with the previous survey.
The number of firms posting a profit remained broadly positive. Employment seems to have grown once more, although again at a slower pace. The investment plans drawn up by firms at the end of 2018, which had anticipated a modest increase in spending, have for the most part been carried out. Firms envisage renewed spending growth in 2020, despite continuing international trade tensions.
In the construction sector, firms' assessments of output trends improved, specifically owing to the contribution from public sector construction. Employment benefited from this, as shown in firms' expectations of an increase exceeding those of a decrease for the first time since 2007. Expectations for 2020 point to a further strengthening of production.
