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Britain's businesses are regaining faith in their own prospects and in the UK economy as they see an slight easing of credit and a confidence in the UK consumer.

In May, confidence levels amongst businesses across the UK improved for the third consecutive month, hitting their highest levels in almost a year, according to the latest Lloyds TSB Corporate survey.

The number of firms expecting business activity to rise rose to 44% last month, compared to 35% in April, while the number expecting activity to worsen, fell from 21% in April to 16% in May. Businesses' views on prospects for the wider economy also rose in May – those expecting economic conditions to improve hit 40%, a dramatic rise on April's balance of 11%.

Trevor Williams, chief economist at Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, says: "While it would be premature to talk of an end to the recession, we should be careful not to overlook the significance of the growing confidence we are witnessing amongst businesses.

"Confidence is always the foundation on which any recovery is built. We've now seen three consecutive months of growing optimism amongst UK businesses – and if this persists over coming months the recovery should not be too far behind."

Any good adviser will tell you that the key to business success, no matter how small or large your enterprise, is confidence. If you think things will be improving, you will be more likely to invest in your business, to take out a loan or expand your operations. You will be happier knowing your debts will be able to be managed and paid because you will be confident of profits going forward.

So if you think it might be time to reinvest in your business, talk to an adviser about what loans and mortgages could be on offer to you as a self certifiable borrower.

SOURCE: Lloyds TSB, 08/06/09

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