A new Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce survey shows half of members are closed completely or operating at less than 25% of normal capacity.
One in eight businesses who responded said they were not confident of surviving the Covid-19 crisis.
Key concerns were loss of income with continued lockdown (87% of respondents), cashflow worries (60%) and loss of productivity (42%).
Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce chief executive Alison Henderson said: “Businesses have spent the last nine weeks reacting to the crisis, ensuring as much as possible that their trading can continue in some way, and looking after the safety of their workforce while waiting to see how the pandemic is impacting the country.
“Many have already been working hard to maintain operations or look at plans for restart.
“We are concerned that income levels may not come back as quickly as businesses will need and people will find it difficult to trade to the same profit levels that they need.”
A total of 23% of businesses said they were very confident of surviving the crisis, 54% were confident and 13% were not confident. 10% gave no answer.
Almost half of members said they would need to adapt how they operate for a post Covid-19 world.
Just over half (51%) said they would need less than a week to reopen, 22% they would need one to three weeks.
Almost two-thirds (63%) have utilised the Government’s Job Retention Scheme to furlough workers.
The main business asks were clear guidance and support to implement social distancing measures; support to adapt their business in a post Covid-19 world and support to create contingency plans for potential further lockdown.
“It is encouraging that government are giving guidance to business and specific sectors but of course we all will need to understand what that means for our business,” Ms Henderson added.
“We know that businesses are looking for continued support to adapt to a post Covid-19 world and we’re working with partners across the region to make sure businesses get the help that they need to sustain operations and protect jobs.”
rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk