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Business breakfast celebrates success of Solent’s top-ranking SMEs
The first Solent SME 100 Business Breakfast was held at Chilworth Manor and attracted some 50 delegates, with presentations by Charles Garfit, head of manufacturing, Santander Corporate & Commercial, and Penny Searles, managing director at Wunelli. Sue Hughes reports
The Solent SME 100 Business Breakfast was held to introduce the SME 100 and talk about some of the issues affecting SMEs. David Murray, publisher of The Business Magazine, welcomed guests and explained that this was the first of a series of events under the umbrella of SME 100 – which is sponsored by law firm Moore Blatch, accountants and business advisers James Cowper and Santander Corporate & Commercial.
The companies on the list are successful Solent businesses which are not listed on any stock market, nor part of a global organisation; overall the top 100 have a combined turnover of nearly £875 million and employ 9,000 people, making a significant contribution to not only the Solent economy, but also the wider UK economy.
“Manufacturing and engineering companies feature strongly, as you would expect in the region,“ said Murray, “but so too do service businesses from finance to marketing. It’s clear that for SMEs, market conditions are improving and new opportunities are arising.“
Recent figures show that as economic confidence grows 92% of SMEs are investing in growth generating activities, whether that is taking on staff, investing in plant and machinery or acquiring a competitor.
The two areas where, percentage wise, the most investment has been seen is training staff and boosting marketing and advertising activity. Since training took a back seat in the recession, not to mention marketing activity, this is good news. Upskilling staff in particular is likely to be a catalyst to sustained growth and absolutely key when launching new products and services.
“There are challenges ahead. The political landscape could change in May and that could mean increased labour costs. Then we have the fall in business confidence in Germany and the likely effect of further trouble in the eurozone,“ continued
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for a small island and have a solid and diverse employment base,“ said Garfit.
“The South East contribution is very significant. The bank has a corporate and solid responsibility and cannot operate in a vacuum. Jobs lead people to want mortgages and houses so it works together.
Charles Garfit and Penny Searles
... overall the top 100 Solent SMEs have a combined turnover of nearly £875 million and employ 9,000 people, making a significant contribution to not only the Solent economy, but also the wider UK economy
“If you look at output in GDP, then we are near the bottom of our peer group, but now we have a proper manufacturing policy with the Government we should embrace it. We need to do more and invest in automation – it has been seen as a threat to jobs, but it shouldn’t be, because it creates efficiency.“
Garfit highlighted that short-term problems, such as not enough orders, had led to businesses losing some key people and losing them altogether in some cases to new careers.
Murray, adding that various issues would be raised in future SME 100 forums.
At least 10 of the top 20 are manufacturers, and manufacturing and engineering contribute some £6.7 trillion to the UK economy; in the Solent region the sector is overwhelmingly the most important, employing more than 100,000 people.
Garfit is ideally placed for updates on current economic conditions and addressed delegates on how manufacturing is overcoming recent challenges, as well as how exports are key to the UK’s recovery.
“Manufacturing is responsible for 11% of GDP and £122,000 annually through significant exports. We do relatively well
“Our inventiveness and resourcefulness is without compare but we don’t shout about how successful we are. 49% of UK exports are driven by manufacturing. Manufacturing needs more people to get where it wants to go, not juniors – they can be trained – but it’s hard to get senior management. We need to be more creative about how we look at the top layer and recruit outside the sector.
“When it comes to technology innovation and investment look at 3D printing; there are many south coast businesses leading the way, which fuels growth for the next stage, expansion and automation.“
He rounded off his presentation by stating that businesses which export are significantly more likely to weather financial storms and this makes them more credit worthy.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – NOVEMBER 2014
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