In a ACCI-Westpac Survey, a net 13% of respondents expect profitability for Australian firms to increase in the next 12 months.
While that is down from a high of +23% in December, a trend improvement is apparent, one that initially emerged in 2013 but faltered in mid-2014.
As with capacity utilisation and investment plans, this improvement is, by and large, centred on fewer firmsexpecting a fall.
This adds to the evidence that, to date, the nature of this upswing remains relatively moderate by historicalstandards.
