Midlands business leaders see bright outlook for growth – BGF
RESEARCH from the Birmingham-based Business Growth Fund (BGF) has revealed that some 82% of business leaders in the Midlands believe that conditions for growth have improved over the last quarter.
The funder’s inaugural Growth Climate Index is a new indicator of business confidence based on the opinions of 350 board directors working across the UK’s fast growing small and mid-sized businesses.
It reports that 81% of respondents believe that the UK’s membership of the EU is good for British businesses.
In terms of priorities for the Government, respondents ranked improved rail, roads and runways first among the business issues that need to be focused on.
Of those surveyed in the Midlands, 35% prioritised physical infrastructure, while 15% highlighted the need to see simplified employment policies and an improvement in the quality of apprenticeships to make them more attractive to businesses and young people.
The business leaders highlighted sales and marketing, international expansion, and attracting investment as the three areas businesses need to focus on to achieve growth over the next quarter.
Conversely, of the issues holding businesses back, significantly more respondents in the Midlands consider access to the right skills (30%) rather than access to finance (16%) as a the biggest barrier to growth.
Less than 2% identified tax policy as a current constraint to growth.
Referendum jitters were consistent throughout the polling. Many respondents expressed a mixture of fatigue and anxiety over continued constitutional and political uncertainty, and cite the need for the UK’s position in Europe to be settled quickly and in a firm timeframe so as not to curtail business decision making.
Gavin Petken, BGF’s regional director for the Midlands, said: “There’s a definite sense of optimism in the Midlands’ business community, and it’s one that has been building over the past 18 months. Manufacturing is experiencing a renaissance, thanks in no small part to the expansion plans of JLR.
“Big businesses aren’t the only driving force behind this change: diversification has been key. Throughout the region, pockets of small and mid-sized business are beginning to deliver sustained growth.
“This applies to companies in the newer digital, marketing and hi-tech industries as much as to those engaged in traditional manufacturing activities.”
BGF is an independent company with capital of up to £2.5bn and is backed by five of the UK’s main banking groups – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered.
