Report: WNY business leaders gaining confidence in economy

Western New York is by no means booming, but a study released Tuesday suggests the confidence of local business leaders has returned to where it stood before the recession took hold.

First Niagara’s Annual Survey of Upstate New York Business Leaders was unveiled and Buffalo’s confidence numbers ranked the best out of the four biggest upstate cities.

Responses from 636 leaders of private businesses in the four major markets of Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse were used in First Niagara’s fifth annual survey, conducted by Siena College Research Institute during the last two months of 2011 and the first week of 2012.

Responses came from 199 business leaders in the Buffalo Niagara area, including chief executive officers, chief financial officers and other senior managers of private businesses with $5 million to $150 million in annual sales in the service, manufacturing, engineering and construction, retail, wholesale and distribution, financial and food and beverage industries.

“Leaders of Buffalo Niagara area businesses are showing rays of optimism in an uneven economic period and they continue to demonstrate an acute realism in projecting their future revenues, profits and company investments in this post-recession world,” said Buford Sears, Western New York Market Executive for First Niagara Bank.

This year, Buffalo Niagara business leaders registered an overall Confidence Index of 94.8, up 1.4 points from last year, up 12.4 points from two years ago and up 54.8 points from 2008.

The Buffalo Niagara area also registered a 100.5 for the “future” Confidence Index, its highest over the past five years. This represents an increase of 4.5 points over last year, 13.1 points in 2009 and 54.0 points over the 2008 survey.