No great optimism – say the K&H business indexes

By: Trademagazin editor Date: 2024. 03. 19. 12:15

Expectations for large companies are stuck. In the fourth quarter the K&H large business growth index basically remained unchanged, correcting from 0 to -1.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/2-3

The sideways movement of the index is due to companies being less optimistic about their own outlook and less negative about economic changes if compared to the previous quarter. For SMEs the last year has been about stabilisation. This is indicated by the fact that the K&H SME confidence index, which shows the expectations of micro-, small and medium-sized businesses in Hungary for the next year, has been relatively flat over the past year, ranging between -14 and -5 points, following the hectic movements of the past 2-3 years.

The index, which has been in negative territory since the third quarter of 2022, improved by 5 points in the last quarter and currently stands at -6 points. At the same time, following a significant improvement in the previous quarter, the positive sentiment of domestic family firms has moderated by the end of the year, with the K&H family business index standing at 0 points, with firms expecting much lower revenue growth and a larger decline in profits in 2024. //