Better business closes out 2023

A recent survey from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) on Business Climate found that Restaurants and Similar Establishments as well as Retail stores increased their business significantly at the end of 2023.

The report, related to November last year, noted that this business sector had reported an average increase in their receipts of 38.5% year-on-year.

Thriving way above the average were the Western Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants surging 74.7% and 52.5% respectively, while on the other hand, Japanese and Korean restaurants dropped 22.1%.

Although the figures of the Restaurants represented a very positive increase y-o-y as compared to 2022, a year in which Covid-19 restrictions were still in force, they represent a drop (-7.2%) when compared to the previous month (October 2023) when the National Day holidays helped to account for the higher month of the year for business owners.

When compared month-on-month, November registered a decrease in receipts, with receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants falling 9.7% and 5.5% respectively.

The prospering seen y-on-y was even more accentuated in the retail sector which scored in November 2023 an average rise of 45.7% y-o-y.

In this case, the DSEC said that all types of interviewed retailers registered a y-o-y increase in sales, with particularly significant growth in the sales in the sub-sector of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+78.2%), Department Stores (+73.9%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (+65.8%) and Leather Goods Retailers (+58.4%).

But, like the restauranteurs, shop owners saw November drop when compared to October. On average this drop was of 12%, DSEC said, with the retailers of Watches, Clocks and Jewellery and Adults’ Clothing reporting a sales drop of 17.2% and 12.3% respectively.

The only sub-sector that reported growth was the one related to Motor Vehicle Retailers, posting a month-on-month hike of 30.4% in sales.

Most of those interviewed in the restaurant business (42%) also said they expected their receipts would increase with the December Christmas season, while some 14% presented an opposite forecast.

For retail trade, half of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales rise in December, with the ones selling Leather Goods (80%), Department Stores (67%), and Cosmetics and Sanitary Articles Retailers (64%), being the most optimistic.

In contrast, approximately 15% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales drop in December, leading this group were the Motor Vehicle Retailers and Supermarkets.

The sample of the Business Climate Survey on Restaurants and Similar Establishments and Retail Trade comprises 229 restaurants and 161 retailers, which accounted for 53.5% and 70.6% of the respective industry’s receipts in 2019.

The Survey results were not extrapolated. As a panel sample of establishments is used in this Survey, the changes in receipts in the reference month as compared to the month of comparison serve as reference indicators of the business performance of the sectors.