The research, part of Opus Energy’s new Brighter Business report, has shone a light on current SME sentiment and trends and found that twenty-nine percent of SMEs are more confident about their business since the referendum. While another 43% said their confidence remains unchanged. Collectively this has translated into projected income growth, with nearly two-thirds (61%) of SME decision makers expecting increased revenue growth in the next two years, with some expecting increases of 20% upwards.
In terms of revenue, twenty-six per cent of SME respondents expect this to increase 5-10%, with another 17% expecting returns to increase by 11-20%. Only 14% of respondents forecasted no growth at all.
In addition, when asked what would give the biggest boost to their business, exploiting new markets (33%), a better skilled workforce (20%) and more favourable government initiatives such as lower tax or interest rates (16%) were identified at the top of SME wish lists for the next two years, followed by factors such as diversification (14%) and better access to finance (10%).
Louise Boland, Opus Energy MD commented:
“It’s great to see SMEs forecasting such a bright future, as they are the lifeblood of the UK. For many SMEs, getting on with business, as usual, is of utmost importance, and it’s refreshing to see such optimism during a time of great political uncertainty.”
However, SME decision makers did identify barriers to their growth, with economic uncertainty (36%), competition (30%) and cash flow (17%) keeping them awake at night. Tax (16%), political red tape (16%) and the skills shortage (15%) also featured as major concerns. In contrast, over a fifth of respondents, 22%, said there were no barriers to growth whatsoever.
Boland concluded:
“Businesses will always encounter barriers, as each business is exposed to different risks that can affect growth – be that social, political or economic. While it’s fantastic to see that over a fifth of businesses foresee no barriers, it’s helpful to identify what road blocks SMEs are encountering, as it means helpful measures can be put in place to help counteract their concerns. For the UK economy to thrive, we need a strong SME network, so we hope our report demonstrates current SME sentiment and can provide the solutions many are looking for to help them reach their next step of their evolution.”
