Three-quarters of SMEs (75%) are confident that they will be able to access funding to grow their business over the course of 2018, according to a recent study.
This figure from the latest Aldermore Future Attitudes report represents an increase on the 63% recorded in Q4 2016.
Some 11% of SME bosses expected to see a significant increase in profits during the year, while more than two-fifths of small firms (42%) believed that their business revenues will increase over the next 12 months, compared with 39% in Q4 2016.
Carl D'Ammassa, group managing director of business finance at Aldermore, said: “It is encouraging to see that optimism among SME leaders is increasing, with attitudes towards business revenues staying positive for the next 12 months.
“SMEs make an essential contribution to the UK economy and with Brexit discussions progressing, their ability to obtain finance and help support the growth of the UK economy will be crucial.
“Planning can be a difficult task, but to ensure ongoing success, every business owner needs to have a vision for growth and an understanding of how they would like to get there.”
When asked what methods they would use to achieve increases in revenue, half of small firms (50%) planned to increase marketing efforts, almost two-fifths (39%) intended to launch new products or services, while a third (33%) said they would enter new markets.
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