That's the headline finding from the latest business confidence index published by the Bank of Scotland, which found more than half of those questioned expect general economic conditions to worsen over the coming 12 months.

The index shows that confidence levels have fallen by five points since April, The Scotsman reported.

However, despite the downturn, Scottish firms were more optimistic than those in the rest of the UK. Some 53% of Scottish firms were concerned about the economic future compared to the UK average of 63%.