SMEs in the East remain optimistic
Oct 02 2009
“SMEs look to the road ahead”
Small businesses in the East of England are positive about the future, but say credit availability is still a problem, according to research from the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
Some 47 per cent of business owners expect to see an increase in orders over the next year, while 14 per cent anticipate an upturn over the next three months.
However, 82 per cent said the terms and conditions of lending had worsened in 2009, with 86 per cent saying the cost of finance had increased.
FPB spokesman Phil McCabe says: ‘The feedback from small businesses in the Eastern region was very much in line with that from the UK as a whole, and that's probably because of the very varied makeup of smaller firms in the area.
‘However, one thing almost all of them have in common is that they have seen accessing finance become increasingly difficult during 2009 and want better treatment from the banks.’
According to a recent poll by Business Link, aspiring inventors cited the current economic climate and the greater risk of being made redundant as the two main inspirations for moving forward with their business ideas.