See-sawing economic fortunes across Europe have caused business confidence to drop in Germany but strengthen in the UK over the last three months.

Grant Thorton’s International Business Report shows that growth prospects are improving in Spain, Ireland and Greece, but are slipping in Germany and France.

The trend poses questions about how the Eurozone will cope with varying fortunes of its members, it said.

On its scale, net confidence across the Eurozone dropped from 35% to just 5% in three months, while in Germany – the biggest economy in Europe – optimism dropped from 79% to 36% during the period.

In the UK on the same scale confidence hit 81%, down just 1% from its all-time high recorded in the first three months of 2014.

The UK is in second place on the index, behind India with a reading of 95%.

Scott Barnes, CEO of Grant Thornton UK, warned that it wasn’t all good news for British businesses: “The UK's economy is still heavily dependent on trade with eurozone countries, so despite a stronger domestic outlook, contraction across the trading block could adversely impact the UK's prospects.

“Avoiding this dependence on the eurozone requires more support, such as building on the efforts of UKTI to help our mid-sized business (MSB) community open new trade opportunities further afield – particularly in faster growing developing economies where 'brand Britain' carries a premium.”