Business confidence across the UK appears to have been hit by the recent credit crisis, according to the Business Opinion Survey by the Institute of Directors.

The research found that only 4% of company bosses are now more optimistic about their firm's prospects, said the body's latest quarterly.

This compares with the 24% who said they were more optimistic as opposed to less so back at the start of August.

More specifically, 15% of bosses said the financial crisis had hit sales.

The proportion of directors stating that their company was performing well, versus those who said it was performing badly, fell to 73% in the latest survey, down from 77% in the August study.