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Described by the Chancellor as “the real engine for growth”, mid-sized businesses have the potential to generate up to £50bn for the UK economy. Andrew Cave reports on the latest drive to boost their export activity
rom yacht-makers to mining equipment manufacturers, the UK’s mid-sized businesses (MSBs) punch well above
their weight. Numbering about 10,000, with turnover between £25-500m, they compete against 650 larger UK companies and 4.5m smaller ones. Despite representing just 0.2 per cent of British fi rms, they account for one-fi fth of private-sector employment and turnover. The number of MSBs has grown more rapidly than any other group over the past seven years and did not fall during the recession. Yet they underperform in the area of exports. Less than a quarter currently trade overseas, according to Department for Business Innovation and Skills research, while for 40 per cent of those that do, overseas sales account for less than 10 per cent of turnover. Only 14 per cent export more than 75 per cent of their turnover, while foreign investment activity has been fl at for over a decade.
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www.ukti.gov.uk
By comparison, Germany’s thriving
MSBs – part of its ‘Mittelstand’ – are almost double this size, at around 19,000 fi rms. These fi rms account for 32 per cent of private-sector employment. Against this backdrop, the government is working to increase the number of MSBs that export. According to Jacqui Miller, director of
Miller, a Northumberland manufacturer of buckets, quick couplers and attachments for earth-moving equipment, this defi ciency represents opportunity. “This is the sector of our economy that will get the nation up and running,” she says. “The middle sector of the British economy is where growth and employment are going to come from.” Some MSBs are already exporting.
Take Scott Bader, a Northamptonshire- based polyester resins and adhesives manufacturer employing 250 UK staff and 350 overseas. Founded in 1932, with a turnover of £181m, the family fi rm has intensifi ed its exports in recent
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