Almost half the country's small businesses suffered a fall in earnings during the three months to the end of July and the majority are expecting to keep their capital expenditure plans on hold.According to the latest "Sensis Business Index - Small and Medium Enterprises" report, profitability performance was at the lowest level recorded in the 18-year history of the survey.Forty-seven per cent of respondents said they had experienced a decrease in earnings in the period from May to July, while 32 per cent said there had been no change, and 20 per cent had had an increase.Forty-two per cent said they did not expect to see any change in the current quarter (to the end of October) and 23 per cent said they expected conditions to get worse.According to the survey, the strongest industry performance was recorded in the cultural, recreational and personal services sector, while the weakest profitability performance was in retail trade.Weak earnings performance is having an impact on demand for capital expenditure finance. Fifty per cent of companies said there was no change in their capital expenditure during the period from May to July, while 31 per cent said there had been a reduction.Only 17 per cent increased their capital expenditure during the period.Fifty-five per cent said there would be no change to their capex budgets in the current quarter (to the end of October) and 27 per cent said there would be a reduction. Of the 19 per cent of businesses that tried to access finance to fund their capital expenditure, 62 per cent reported they were successful.The success rate was up seven percentage points on the previous survey, suggesting that it is easier for SMEs to get finance now.However, this is not how business sees it. Forty-one per cent of respondents said it was difficult to get finance.