Over 60 per cent of mid-market entrepreneurs in the UK plan to expand their workforce after expressing confidence in their own businesses, but they are more pessimistic with regard to the country’s overall economic climate, findings from Investec's Entrepreneur Confidence Index have shown.

A modest 13 per cent of entrepreneurs interviewed expect the UK’s economic climate to improve over the next 12 months - marking the lowest level of optimism recorded by the index - yet 58 per cent expect to launch new products for their own business this year, as reported by Investec, the London/South Africa-listed banking group.

The index also demonstrates that 39 per cent predict a “slight deterioration” in the economic climate, with one in ten expecting this to be considerable in nature.

Meanwhile, a total of 86 per cent of entrepreneurs forecast improved profitability, reinforced by the fact that 63 per cent plan to hire more people while only 13 per cent intend to reduce their workforce.

In terms of risk, 45 per cent cite the eurozone as the biggest threat to their businesses over the coming year, followed by access to capital, as stated by 34 per cent of the interviewees.

“The entrepreneurial class are often naturally optimistic, so we are not particularly surprised that despite anticipating a decline in the UK economy, many have high hopes for their own businesses, and perhaps see opportunities in the current climate,” said Ed Cottrell of Investec.

Some 84 per cent said that they were going to focus on growing their businesses organically. This helps explain why 56 per cent of entrepreneurs plan to increase spend on research and development and only 15 per cent anticipate making cuts here, Cottrell explained.

The survey was conducted in December last year, based on the views of 31 entrepreneurs with an aggregate annual business turnover of £1.3 billion (about $2 billion).