Business sentiment among Malaysia companies has increased for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q1 2020. According to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Malaysia’s Business Optimism Index (BOI) study, BOI inched up by 0.64 percentage points from +9.58 percentage points in Q4 2019 to +10.22 percentage points in Q1 2020.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, BOI increased by 1.30 percentage points from +8.92 percentage points in Q1 2019 to +10.22 percentage points in Q1 2020. The six business indicators under the quarterly BOI study include volume of sales, net profits, selling price, inventory level, employees and new orders. This is the 28 th D&B BOI study being released in Malaysia.
4 of six indicators have climbed upwards on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis for Q1 2020.
❖ Net profit has increased moderately from +9.17 percentage points in Q4 2019 to +11.11 percentage points in Q1 2020.
❖ Volume of sales fell visibly from +23.33 percentage points in Q4 2019 to +8.70 percentage points in Q1 2020.
❖ Selling price jumped from +0.83 percentage points in Q4 2019 to +10.14 percentage points in Q1 2020.
❖ New orders rose slightly from +21.67 percentage points in Q4 2019 to +24.16 percentage points in Q1 2020.
❖ Inventory levels remained in the contractionary zone falling from -1.67 percentage points in Q4 2019 to -1.93 percentage points in Q1 2020.
❖ Employment levels increased from +4.17 percentage points in Q4 2019 to +9.17 percentage points in Q1 2020. On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, 4 of six indicators has increased for Q1 2020.
❖ Volume of sales increased from +7.06 percentage points in Q1 2019 to +8.70 percentage points in Q1 2020.
The D&B Business Optimism Index (BOI) is a measure of business confidence in the economy. Released quarterly, it is based on a business sentiment survey that is designed to capture business expectations and is one of the most effective ways to track how the business community perceives the business environment, and where they think it is moving. This is commonly used, worldwide, to assist in analyzing major trends and issues concerning the business community through tracking business parameters including net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventory levels, and employee count.
D&B Malaysia conducts latest Business Expectations Surveys every quarter. Each quarter, 200 business owners and senior executives representing major industry sectors across Malaysia are asked if they expect increases, decreases or no changes in their upcoming quarterly Sales, Profits, Employment, New Orders, Inventories and Selling Prices. Note: The index figures used in the survey represent the net percentage of survey respondents expecting higher sales, profits, etc., compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The indices are calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents expecting decreases from the percentage expecting increases.
