The Bank of Scotland's figures, which apply to businesses with a turnover of under £1 million annually, found Scottish confidence was 6% higher than the national average, and 10% higher than the Midlands, which had the lowest confidence ranking of any region.

But spokesman Kevin Gillett believes that although the quarterly survey showed a slight dip in overall optimism, confidence remained strong.

He told The Scotsman:

"Business owners' confidence in their own business performance remains much higher than in the economy as a whole."