Entrepreneurs upbeat as Dutch small businesses recover from crisis

The mood among Dutch entrepreneurs was upbeat and positive at the start of the second season. Businesses in the Netherlands continue to recover from the financial crisis, including small- and medium sized enterprises. According to Statistics Netherlands, entrepreneurs' confidence amounted to almost 9 at the start of the second quarter, about the same as in the first quarter of the year. Business confidence has been positive for 2.5 years now. Confidence fell in a few sectors, including retail. But this drop was offset by an increase in confidence in the information and communication sector as well as in hospitality. According to Statistics Netherlands, the high confidence is connected to the continuing economic growth. Dutch businesses are continuing to recover from the financial crisis. Dutch SME's saw a turnover growth of 5.1 percent last year, according to a study done by the association of registered accountants SRA, BNR reports. The construction and hospitality sectors are doing particularly well, while financial services and transport are lagging behind somewhat. SME's in the four large Dutch cities in the Randstad performed the best, but businesses in northern-Netherlands also did remarkably well.