KEY FINDINGS
Sample size for September: 25
Performance against budget
- 64 per cent made or exceeded budget (6 per cent lower than August) – consisting of medium businesses (50 per cent), and small businesses (50 per cent).
- 36 per cent either missed budget or missed budget badly (6 per cent higher than August) – consisting of small (67 per cent) and medium (33 per cent) businesses.
Staff hires
- 72 per cent reported no change in staff (2 per cent higher than August). Of the companies that reported no changes, 61 per cent made budget, while 39 per cent missed budget.
- 28 per cent of businesses employed additional staff (3 per cent higher than August). Of the companies that employed more staff, 71 per cent exceeded budget and 29 per cent just missed budget.
In Victoria, making or exceeding budget was more likely for businesses in metropolitan areas (85 per cent, versus 25 per cent in regional areas), while in New South Wales, making or exceeding budget was split evenly between metropolitan and regional areas.
Profile of survey participants this month
The participants for September’s survey included frame and truss fabricators (48 per cent), followed by wholesalers (20 per cent), while the remainder (32 per cent) consisted of merchants, suppliers and consultants.