French business sentiment improved in December, rising for the third straight month and reaching its highest level of 2005, according to a survey of around 450 small and medium-sized companies by BNP Paribas Lease Group and Agence France-Presse. The BPLG/AFP indicator of sentiment in the French small and medium-sized business sector rose to 28 in December from 25 the previous month The indicator is based on business leaders' responses on sales, profitability, employment trends and the outlook for their company and industry. The small and medium-sized business sector, which covers companies with between 6 and 200 employees, accounts for 45 pct of total French employment. The indicator is based on a scale under which 0 equates to the historic low point reached in 1993 and 100 equates to the high reached in 2000. "For the year 2005, small and mid-size businesses saw a sharp decline in the second quarter. The recovery that began in the third quarter has been confirmed in the last three months of the year," the BPLG said Among the sub-indices, Sales rose to 26 in December from 23 the previous month, its strongest reading since Dec 2003 The Profitability indicator climbed to 23 from 15 in November, while Employment was stable at 36, as was Investment at 28