Top Ten accounting firm Moore Stephens revealed the findings of its Owner Managed Business (OMB) survey at a launch event at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Birmingham.

The report found that only 59 per cent of SME owners are confident about the general outlook for this year, and that confidence levels and performance against key business metrics have fallen to three-year lows.

Suk Aulak, partner at Moore Stephens in Birmingham, said: “General uncertainty over the future has resulted in OMBs’ outlook and business performance potential falling to a three-year low in our survey.

“How OMBs perform is vital to the national economy, and the good news is that OMBs are still confident about hitting profit and revenue targets in the medium term, with the majority expecting turnover and net profitability to increase in the next three to five years.”

The launch event included an economic outlook report from Darren Ruane, head of fixed interest at Investec Wealth and Investment.