The West:defying gloom as the boom fades

West Australians are a resilient lot.

New research shows that their coffee shops and cafes are still doing well – even though  small business profits and sales in the West have hit new lows.

Despite that, the latest Sensis Business Index reports that the State’s small business owners are still among the nation’s most confidence, sharing second place, on that measure.

The report’s author Christena Singh said the State’s small to medium sector’s sales and profitability had both hit the lowest levels on record, over the past three months.

Surveys of this kind  were first conducted in 1993.

Ms Singh said the sector’s sales, over the past three months, are now 45 percentage points below those of the same time last year.

“…and the profitability indicator is down 35 percentage points,” Ms Singh added.

But West Australians never fail to surprise.

“Despite  recording the nation’s smallest rise in business confidence for the quarter, WA had the equal second highest level of business confidence,” Ms Singh said.

The  confidence of the State’s small to medium business owners rose by 1 percentage point in the quarter.

The survey also showed, though, that they had continued to shed staff during the quarter.

However Ms Singh the rate at which staff shedding is occurring had eased during the quarter.

The State’s farmers, though, are optimistic.

The survey showed a surge in small business confidence, outside the Perth metropolitan area, during the quarter.