Partner Article

Small businesses not ruling out expansion

The UK’s small businesses are ready to expand, despite the effects of the recession.

That’s the main finding from a recent survey of small businesses by Barclays, who found that 49% of the companies they surveyed were planning to grow in the next 12 months, and 34% are looking to stay the same or consolidate.

Steve Cooper, Managing Director of Barclays Local Business, said: “Any decisions to expand should be carefully considered, but there are good reasons to expand at the right time. Companies with growth plans could be taking advantage of a completely different competitive landscape, where key competitors are missing or have downsized.”

The retail sector recorded the highest percentage of businesses planning to expand, with 54% of companies planning expansion compared to 46% in the trade sector.

The research also looked at the skills companies believe they need more access to, with marketing coming out top, followed by sales and IT skills.

David Longstaff, FSB Regional Organiser for the North East of England said: “North East small businesses are naturally flexible and innovative in recessions and these figures show that despite the very many negative forces on them, they are being cautiously optimistic and are looking to expand. Although we are certainly not out of the woods yet, many small firms are seeing increased footfall and are seeing this time as an ideal opportunity to expand.

“We are now looking to the banks to provide greater support in lending to small businesses in the region and would hope that the Government will look to small and medium businesses, which employ 58.8% of the UK workforce and make up 99.9% of businesses, to build the post recession economy and provide them with the maximum possible support.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .