December sees rise in small business sales growth
Australian small businesses reported an increase in sales of 3.3 per cent in December 2011, the eighth consecutive month of positive annual growth, a report from ANZ has found.
According to the monthly Small Business Sales Trends survey, the uptick was driven by growth in the mining states as well as the non-retail and services sectors, while a better than expected Christmas period was also seen by retail-related small businesses.
Findings from the survey showed that non retail and services continued to outperform traditional retailers, with automotive (8.2 per cent) and trades (6.4 per cent) witnessing the best performance in December.
Among retail related small businesses, restaurants retained the best growth rates, increasing 10 per cent in December 2011, though down slightly from 11.8 per cent in December 2010.
Western Australia continues to surge ahead of other states with 4.9 per cent sales growth in December, while regional and rural small businesses outperformed metropolitan based businesses by 4.5 per cent on a monthly basis and 2.6 per cent on a yearly basis.
Queensland and Victoria also recorded strong sales growth in December, with 3.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively. In contrast, Tasmania and the Australia Capital Territory saw growth decline, with figures sitting at -0.3 per cent and –0.4 per cent, respectively.
Despite the overall uptick in sales growth, year to date growth remains relatively flat, with year to date growth sitting at 1.9 per cent, said Nick Reade, general manager small business at ANZ.
“The December figures reflect a reasonable Christmas trading period overall,” he said.
“The year to date growth figure of just 1.9 per cent is still a concern however and remains consistent with generally subdued market conditions. The divergence in performance between Western Australia and the less mining intensive states and territories is also becoming more apparent,” he said.
- Categories
- Banking
- Tags:
- ANZ, Small Business Sales Trends
- Author:
- Angela Faherty, afaherty@financialpublications.com.au
- Article Posted:
- January 27, 2012
Review this content
Fields marked with an asterisk (
) are mandatory.