TD Bank survey: Small businesses expect better performance in early 2012

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

A growing number of East Coast small businesses expect stable or improving revenue performance in the early 2012 despite a general lack of optimism about the US economy, a new survey from TD Bank concludes.

Small businesses in the Boston area tended to be slightly more optimistic than their counterparts in other regions along the East Coast, TD Bank added. The bank’s footprint stretches from Maine to Florida. And though its twin headquarters are in Portland, Maine, and Cherry Hill, N.J., TD Bank is one of the largest banks in Massachusetts.

For the purposes of the survey, TD Bank defined a small business as one with annual revenues of $5 million or less. The bank polled 300 small businesses in its service area, including 100 in Greater Boston.

For all 300 companies, 74 percent of respondents believe they will meet or exceed revenue projections in the first quarter of 2012. The comparable figure for the Boston-area companies was 76 percent.

“The words ‘cautious optimism’ are what we’ve been hearing from our small business customers when discussing their early 2012 outlook,� Fred Graziano, TD Bank’s head of commercial regional banking, government banking, and small business, said in a statement. “Despite feeling somewhat uneasy about the US economy, many are hopeful that they are in a position to boost their revenue stream and possibly invest in their business in the upcoming months.� 

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.