Two surveys recently published by Ernst & Young have painted a mixed picture of the situation for SMEs and small business investment in Switzerland, with the vast majority of Swiss small businesses currently happy with their situation, but fearing an economic decline as a result of the debt crisis in Europe.

The Swiss arm of consulting and accounting group found that 92% of the small and medium-sized enterprises questioned were positive about their current business situation, and 28% expected an improvement in the coming six months.

However, 13% predicted a decline in their business situation, and 37% of those polled expected the general economic situation in Switzerland to be adversely affected by the ongoing eurozone difficulties. This, coupled with a shortage of skilled workers, was likely to hinder job creation, according to the SMEs questioned, with just 15% planning to increase their staffing levels, and 9% expecting to need to reduce worker numbers.

In terms of ongoing investment, 19% stated that they would be increasing the amount invested or reinvested in their business, which 9% expected to have less to spend over the coming months.

A further Ernst & Young survey, principally looking at regional M&A (merger and acquisition) activity at the end of last year also examined private equity investment levels, and found that overall in Q4 2011 in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, private equity activity showed a "sharp" decline, dropping by around 70% in disclosed deal volume and by around 30% in the number of deals, compared to the third quarter of the year.

E&Y went on to reveal that although for the whole of 2011, private equity activity in the three countries was up by approximately 10% (at 71 deals), the disclosed volume of deals was down by approximately 17% at EUR 6.5 billion, compared to 2010.