Leaders of Buffalo-Niagara private businesses have higher expectations in 2012 for revenues, profits and new worker hires than their counterparts in Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, according to results from First Niagara’s annual survey of Upstate New York business leaders.

In addition, these business leaders have a slightly more optimistic viewpoint when it comes to forecasting business conditions in New York State for 2012.

Thirty-three percent of Buffalo Niagara business leaders say they expect business conditions for New York State to improve in 2012, up from 31 percent last year and from 25 percent going into 2009. Another 40 percent expect conditions to remain about the same in 2012, and 27 percent, down from 37 percent last year and 46 percent two years ago, say business conditions will worsen.

Responses from 636 leaders of private businesses in the four major Upstate markets of Buffalo,

Albany, Rochester and Syracuse were used in First Niagara’s fifth-annual survey, conducted by Siena College Research Institute during the last two months of 2011 and the first week of 2012. There were responses from 199 business leaders in the Buffalo Niagara area.

Responding to the survey were chief executive officers, chief financial officers and other senior managers of private businesses with $5 million to $150 million in annual sales in the service, manufacturing, engineering and construction, retail, wholesale and distribution, financial and food and beverage industries.

“Leaders of Buffalo-Niagara businesses are showing rays of optimism in an uneven economic period and they continue to demonstrate an acute realism in projecting their future revenues, profits and company investments in this post-recession world,” said Buford Sears, Western New York market executive for First Niagara Bank.

Other key survey results for the Buffalo Niagara area include:

Twenty-seven percent of company leaders say they expect to increase their current labor force in 2012. Another 62 percent say it will remain the same, and 12 percent say they will decrease their work force.

Fifty-five percent of business leaders say they plan to invest in fixed asset acquisitions over the next year to meet growing demand, reduce costs or enhance profitability. Of those that intend to invest in fixed assets, 63 percent plan to use internally generated funds while 30 percent intend to finance with the assistance of a financial institution.

Forty-seven percent of business leaders predict increasing revenues in 2012. Another 34 percent think they will stay the same, and 19 percent say they will decrease.

Thirty-six percent expect profits to increase in 2012, while another 35 percent predict they will stay the same and 30 percent expect a decrease.