ALMOST ONE company in four is planning to take on new staff in the coming three months, according to a new business sentiment report.

The report also says that half of all those companies surveyed are planning to retain all the staff they have over the coming quarter.

Employers group Ibec says its latest business sentiment report highlights a significantly improved export performance due to Irish businesses winning new customers and capturing market share following years of regaining competitiveness.

While the report points to some further job losses in some sectors, the overall picture is significantly more positive than when the report started in 2009, the group says.

Sectors with high concentrations of multinational firms view the overall business environment more positively than those sectors where indigenous firms dominate.

Companies in medical devices and hospitality have the most positive outlooks for their own businesses, while retailers have the most negative outlook.

Confidence in export sales is at 2010 levels, a year that saw very strong export growth, according to the report.

Order book expectations are the most positive in ICT services, followed by medical devices and education/training services. Retail is the most downbeat sector.

Companies are winning new customers in new and existing markets. Customer base expectations are at a series high of +26, indicating that companies’ growth expectations are relatively robust.

This recovery most likely reflects the significant competitiveness improvements in the last few years, according to Ibec.

Ibec chief economist Fergal O’Brien said economic conditions across Europe had been hit by a crisis of confidence in recent months but for now it did not appear that this had severely affected Irish companies.

“The majority of Irish businesses remain confident about both their current business performance and the three-month outlook, citing a marginally more positive outlook (at +17) than in Q2, despite extreme market turmoil of recent months,” he said.

The export sales balance remained very solid at +31, albeit down from the exceptionally strong peak in the first quarter, he said. The index, now at the same level as in 2010, continued to point to robust export growth.

“One of the most positive features of the latest confidence report is that the customer base balance has improved sharply again and now stands at +26 compared to +8 the end of last year.”