'The year firms start spending again'

The UK's biggest companies will start spending again this year as fears of a double-dip slump recede, according to a report published today.

A rebound in confidence will see firms shift their focus from cost-cutting towards introducing new products and services or moving into new markets, the latest Deloitte survey of chief financial officers found.

Just 27 per cent of CFOs believe a double-dip return to recession is likely, down from 34 per cent in the three months to the end of September.

Almost two-thirds of the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 finance bosses expect markets outside the UK to be the main driver of revenue growth in 2011, with 34 per cent identifying emerging markets as likely to make the biggest contribution. Only 39 per cent believe the UK will be the main contributor to growth.

Ian Steele, senior partner for Deloitte in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: "If 2010 was the year of balance sheet rebuilding and cost cutting, then 2011 looks set to be the year in which corporates start spending again."

Other research out today shows that job openings across the UK slumped in December. But Reed, the recruitment group, reported a 4 per cent year-on-year rise in employer demand and also revealed that salaries rose for the first time in eight months in December, taking them almost back to the level of the same period in 2009.

Martin Warnes, managing director of reed.co.uk, said: "Rising private sector demand has been enough to create year-on-year growth overall in spite of steep falls in new public sector jobs."