In March, immediately after the Chancellors latest budget, we asked SMEs across the UK to share their outlook for the next 12 months. The findings make for interesting reading – including:
- 46% of businesses with less than £250k turnover are expecting reduced income over the next 12 months.
- 67% of businesses with more than £5M turnover are projecting increased income.
- Looking after existing clients, finding new clients and growth are the 3 biggest priorities for SMEs.
These findings, somewhat unsurprisingly, suggests that larger businesses are more insulated from the negative effects of the pandemic. Smaller firms, with less resources and less of a ‘safety net’, are feeling the effects more severely.
It is encouraging to see that 64% of businesses have reviewed their cashflow – a vital step to take at all times but even more so in these turbulent times.
A concern is the low number of businesses that are undertaking customer surveys. Keeping close to your customers has never been more important.
You can see a full copy of the tracker polls results together with our observations in our SME Outlook Tracker Report below:
UK200GroupSMETrackerApril_SummaryReport
We have also produced a handy one-sided leaflet to highlight some of the key steps that SMEs can take to futureproof their business:
Copy of UK200 – Futureproof your business
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. Please do not take or refrain from action based on its contents. Information is based on our understanding of legislation at the date of publish and may change in future.