Small business spending boom expected in Yorkshire
SMALL BUSINESS in Yorkshire are set to invest more than £150m – one of the highest amounts in the UK – owing to a decline in apprehension over Brexit, it is claimed.
Businesses in Yorkshire and The Humber are set for a collective investment programme worth £158m according to financial firm Together, with only companies in London and the South East planning to invest more.
Plans to expand premises and employ more staff top the agenda for SME spending, with more than a quarter (27 per cent) of owners and senior executives at SMEs – the equivalent of 1.6 million businesses – planning to move premises as concern over the UK’s departure from the European Union ebbs away.
Meanwhile, 23 per cent of companies who took part in the survey said they plan to expand their workforce in the next two years.
The survey results were published after the EU withdrawal bill was voted through the Commons this month, with just The House of Lords left to navigate before the UK leaves the EU on January 31.
Andrew Charnley, head of corporate relationships at Together, said: “The investment taps can now be turned back on with UK
SMEs expecting to pump more than £1.7bn into the national economy.
“Our survey has identified major commitments in the North and Midlands in particular where firms plan to spend more than a third of the cash.
“However, they will need support from lenders who do not take a ‘one size fits all’ approach and are willing to look at proposals in the round including focusing on business prospects and regional differences.”
Nearly one in five (18 per cent) of firms plan to upgrade and refurbish their existing premises while 12 per cent expect to buy new buildings and seven per cent will build their own property, the study revealed.
Those SMEs planning investment said they expected to spend an average of nearly £370,000 each as the end of uncertainty enables them to plan for the future. A fifth of SMEs say they had postponed plans to move premises because of Brexit uncertainty while 23 per cent had delayed pay rises for workers and 19 per cent had deferred plans to take on more staff.
Regionally, firms in the North West and Yorkshire had been the most downbeat with 67 per cent and 66 per cent worried about the future.