SME growth predicted for North-east

SMALL businesses in Yorkshire and the North-east are the only ones predicting growth over the next 12 months, according to research from Barclaycard.

It found that on average, companies in Yorkshire and the North-east believe that their revenues will grow by 5.2 per cent over the coming year.

Companies in the rest of England, Scotland andwales on the other hand are forecasting lost revenues.

Barclaycard said that nationally, small to medium sized enterprises (SMES) believe that their takings will shrink by 5.1 per cent on average.

SMES in the North-west expect to take the biggest hit, with revenues falling 16.5 per cent, followed by Scotland with a 10.1 per cent fall. London was in third place, with SMES based there predicting a fall of 7.4 per cent in their earnings. The gloom among small businesses, with the exception of Yorkshire and the Northeast, is in stark contrast to the mood in January. Prior to the arrival of Covid-19 and the resulting shutdown of the economy, they were forecasting growth of 6.3 per cent.

The Barclaycard survey data shows that small companies in Yorkshire and the North-east are the most confident about the strength of their sales pipelines, with 37 per cent describing them as strong.

SMES in the Midlands were the next most positive, with 27 per cent expressing confidence in their sales pipelines. Businesses in Scotland and the East of England were the most pessimistic, with 17 and 16 per cent respectively describing the prospects for future sales as strong.