CBI poll shows companies are suffering from profit squeeze

Business confidence plunged this month across the UK's services sector as mounting cost pressures and weak demand hit profits and undermined the outlook for the rest of the year.

- Phillip Inman

The CBI's latest service sector poll found that a majority of companies were gloomy about their prospects and discounted the acceleration in activity that usually follows the return to work after summer.

Consumer services firms reported a negative outlook for the eighth consecutive month while services companies that sell to other businesses reported a decline in activity for the fourth consecutive month.