Small businesses in the UK are becoming increasingly confident in their prospects for the future, research has suggested.
According to data from the Small Business Federation, the economy is in line for positive growth thanks to the rise in confidence levels. The group's index rose from 6.3 in the first quarter of the year to 15.9 in the second quarter survey.
Financial services businesses showed the strongest increase in confidence, but more and more businesses are looking to expand over the next year, in terms of both staff levels and exports.
In addition to the news from the Small Business Federation, Barclaycard has released new data that also suggested positive news for the economy with spending rising by more than 4.1 per cent in May compared to the same month in 2012.
The figures, seen by the Mail on Sunday, also showed that consumer spending is way ahead of consumer price inflation.
Valerie Soranno Keating, chief executive of Barclaycard, commented: "Sentiment is clearly still fragile, but the better performance we're seeing across a wide range of sectors suggests that the green shoots of a sustainable recovery may finally be taking hold." 
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