Malaysia businesses stay moderately upbeat in Q1: D&B
BUSINESS confidence in Malaysia is expected to remain somewhat upbeat this quarter despite signs of a downward moderation, according to Dun and Bradstreet.
Malaysia’s Business Optimism Index, overall, remained in the expansionary region, but slipped for the third straight quarter from 3.83 points in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 1.65 points in the first quarter of 2017.
The six business indicators in the quarterly index were the volume of sales, net profits, selling price, inventory level, employees and new orders.
Four of the six moderated downwards, while two improved this quarter on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis.
“Both net profits and employment levels fell into negative territory q-o-q.
“Net profits fell from 7.0 percentage points in fourth quarter 2016 to minus 5.94 percentage points in first quarter 2017, while employment slipped from 2.50 percentage points to minus 0.99 percentage points,” D&B said in a statement yesterday.
It said the volume of sales moderated downwards visibly from 7.0 points to 0.99 points, and new orders similarly declined from 5.50 to 1.98.
Both selling price and inventory levels improved q-o-q.
Selling price rose from 0.50 to 9.41 and inventory levels jumped from 0.50 to 3.47.
On a year-on-year basis, the index fell moderately from 4.75 in the first quarter 2016 to 1.65 in the first quarter 2017.
Audrey Chia, chief executive officer of Dun and Bradstreet (Malaysia), said Malaysian businesses are expected to err on the side of caution in their investment decisions for expansion plans this year.
“Global economic uncertainties, higher business costs and reduced sales are some of the key challenges which have been highlighted by local firms.”
The quarterly survey includes respondents from 200 business owners and senior executives representing major industries across Malaysia.
