UK businesses plot expansion and new hires

Growth on target with extended recruitment programmes

A quarter of some 3,000 UK and Ireland businesses asked in a survey are planning to increase staff numbers between now and the end of the year, suggesting growth that could fuel technology purchases through the channel.

According to a six-monthly business confidence survey by office space rentals specialist Regus, 25 per cent of firms overall and 28 per cent of smaller businesses are aiming to increase headcount at least five per cent.

Another 20 per cent plan to boost staffing by two to five per cent by the end of 2013, it said.

Steve Purdy, UK managing director at Regus, said this suggests a rosier business outlook than some have recently reported.

"Businesses are finally gearing up for growth after the protracted downturn," Purdy said in press statement.

About half of the UK and Ireland businesses that were planning to recruit said they would add sales and marketing staff.

Purdy said that managing this stage of recovery would be crucial, as it carried a risk that firms could overextend themselves so they should still work to keep overheads low.

The figures are from a 90-country survey of 26,000 business respondents sourced from Regus' global contacts database and carried out by MindMetre Research.