Vandalism is one of the main crime problems for UK firms

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) study also found that nearly half of the 2,800 firms questioned did not report each and every crime.

The most common offences firms faced were burglary and damage to vehicles.

A separate report by the Federation of Small Businesses also found many small firms have been victims of crime.

Of 18,600 small firms questioned by the FSB, six out of 10 said that they had been targeted by criminals during the past year, and one in four said their premises had been attacked or their vehicles damaged.

Costly disruption

BCC president Isabella Moore said she is urging the government to record separate statistics detailing crimes against businesses.

"There is a widespread perception amongst our members that crime against business is not taken seriously by the government," she said.

"Police performance in relation to crime against business is not measured and so the police are often unwilling to divert resources towards tackling the problem."

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the government recognised the cost and disruption that crime causes to business - as well as the knock-on effects for communities and consumers.

"This is why the government has provided nearly �1m to the Action Against Business Crime Group which will help set up 100 local business crime partnerships," Mr Blunkett said.

Low confidence

"We have already helped 12,500 small shops in deprived areas to install crime prevention measures and business crime advisers in the regional offices are working with the Home Office business crime team to co-ordinate work at a local level," he added.

The FSB said a third of those it polled believed that reporting a crime would be useless and a quarter lacked confidence in the police catching the criminals.

Shadow Industry Secretary Stephen O'Brien said: "Many small businesses clearly have no confidence in the criminal justice system and are not reporting many crimes."