Welsh SMEs Are Emerging From Recent Challenges With Renewed Vigour

Small and medium enterprise (SME) owners in Wales are feeling optimistic and are keen to invest in business growth according to a new survey and Newport-based Storage Giant says it is seeing encouraging signs from the thousands of SMEs that operate under its roof – both in Wales and in the wider UK,  in places like Bristol and Leicester.

The survey from ACCA UK (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and The Corporate Finance Network (CFN) said that small businesses in Wales have had a strong return to trading, with accountants reporting all clients had found trading levels at or above expected levels, compared to 57 percent of businesses across the UK. They have also shown a surge in confidence over the last few weeks, with 60 percent of SMEs expecting to return to pre-Covid levels of turnover and productivity within a year.

Storage Giant MD Simon Williams said: “One in five SME business owners in Wales is also advancing plans to take on added finance to invest in their business according to the survey. And we are certainly seeing small businesses growing under our roof in Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Cwmbran, Llanelli and beyond.”

However, according to the survey, SMEs face continued struggles to find the right mix of financing for success – 80 percent of accountants in Wales said their clients had found it more difficult to even get an overdraft from their bank in recent weeks. The difficulties SMEs are facing come at a time when they are keen and put themselves on a solid financial footing for growth. Surprisingly, around one-third of SMEs in Wales say they have been positively impacted by Covid, in economic terms, but they are having problems accessing commercial finance to build upon this.