The Analysis News & Opinions
Opinion
Confidence bounces back as nation re-emerges
The proportion of UK SMEs predicting growth has almost doubled in just three months, from 14% to 27%, giving one of the first tangible indications the government’s easing of lockdown is having a positive impact on a key area of the economy. Following our last quarter’s report, which
saw the percentage of small business owners predicting growth plummeting from 39% to just 14%, the new findings show the highest quarter-on-quarter rise in five years. With 27% predicting growth overall, there
were significant rises in the percentage of small businesses predicting moderate expansion the next three months (up from 10% to 23%) or no change (26% to 43%). This meant there has been a huge reduction
in the percentage of businesses that fear contraction (down from 31% to 19%) or collapse in the next three months (down by almost two-thirds from 29% to 11%). By sector, the IT/telecoms sector had the
highest proportion of small businesses that predicted growth for the three months to 30 September (44%). The biggest rises in confidence were
evidenced in and transport and distribution (up from 8% to 34%) and manufacturing (9% to 30%), where the resurgence of growth forecasts was striking. There were also significant rises in sectors hardest hit: in retail, the percentage of small firms predicting growth rose from 21% to 27%. In hospitality growth forecasts rose from 11% to 16% in the three months since April. The research suggests smaller, more agile
enterprises will be the fastest to adapt to the UK’s re-emergence from lockdown: small businesses had been trading for less than five years (35%) and those that employed 10-49 employees (37%) were most likely to predict business growth for the next three months (to 30 September).
Gavin Wraith-Carter Managing director, Hitachi Capital Business Finance
‘Focus is online and on small meetings’
Online resources and small meeting groups will be the focus for senior professionals as they look to continue their learning for the rest of the year, according to the results of a major Readers Survey by CCR. A striking 68% of respondents said that
their businesses had put a ban on attending large industry conferences for the remainder of the year, and many more said that they would personally refuse to do so, even if their company had no specific policy. Conversely, 93% said they now regularly
received information over the internet, and 84% said that they would be happy to do small-group meetings towards the latter part of the year, assuming that there was no significant increase in Covid-19 figures. Stephen Kiely, editor of CCRMagazine,
said: “This has been a very important piece of research, which will guide CCR’s policy over the coming period, so I am very grateful to everyone who took the time to give us their views. “These are clearly important decisions, with significant potential ramifications, and
the message is very clear that online is the preferred method in the short term, with small groups becoming more attractive later in the year. “We have seen from the popularity of our
CCRInteractive: Virtual and of the various webinars that we have run with different partners that online-learning is a successful way to bring the right information to senior professionals’ desktops, and, as a result of these findings, we will now start to supplement this with Round-Table Debates towards the end of the year – it is all about bringing professionals the information they need, in the format they require.” l To find out more about partnering with CCR on CCRInteractive: Virtual, a webinar, or a Round-Table Debate, please contact Gary Lucas at
gary@ccrmagazine.co.uk.
‘New vulnerability’ webinar is held
A major webinar has been held looking at the crucial issue around vulnerability in the current environment. The event, run by EQ Credit Services in
partnership with CCRMagazine brought together Richard Carter, managing director, EQ Credit Services; Denise Crossley, chief executive, Lantern UK; Martin Kisby, head of compliance, EQ Credit Services; Freddy Kelly, chief executive and founder, Credit Kudos; and Dave Pickering, head of risk strategy, performance and resilience, Virgin Money. The New Vulnerability webinar engaged
issues such as ‘how industry can support and identity customer vulnerability through open technology and innovation’, ‘how behaviour
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www.CCRMagazine.com
analytics can better predict arrears and improve the transition away from government support and payment holidays’, ‘how consumer behaviour has changed and what industries should adapt ’, and ‘the short, medium, and long term effects of the pandemic and how might regulators and industry react?’ You can watch this webinar at https://
equini t i . com/uk/news -and-views/ eq-views/the-new-vulnerable-webinar/
August 2020
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