According to a survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), optimism among customer services firms is strong, with 48 per cent of companies feeling more confident than three months ago.
In addition, more than a quarter of such organisations, which include hotels, bars, restaurants and travel and leisure concerns, have plans to increase investment in vehicles, plant and machinery.
Meanwhile, professional services firms, including accountancy, legal and marketing organisations, told the CBI that their business levels were as expected in the three months to August but that they were looking forward to more business in the third quarter of the year.
Most firms in the services sector are also planning to take on extra staff. In fact, growth in the numbers employed in the business and professional services sector reached its highest rate in almost seven years over the period of the survey.
Meanwhile, expectations for employment growth over the next quarter reached a record high for both leisure and professional services. However, a shortage of professional and administrative staff is expected to act as a brake on expansion.
The survey also suggested, however, that growth in the services sector, which has been driving the economic recovery, given that it accounts for more than 70 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), was the slowest in the three months to August for a year.
A spokeswoman for the business lobby group said that the slowing in the pace of growth and profits in the sector reflects their view that momentum in the economy will ease in the second half of the year.
However, she stressed that this does not necessarily mean a gear change in the recovery, particularly when the firms surveyed were so upbeat about the quarter to come.