The Finance Flow: Mid-market sector more optimistic
THE engine room of the UK economy is looking forward to the future with renewed optimism but growth ambitions could be restricted by the flow of finance to the sector, a new report concludes.
Grant Thornton’s The Finance Flow said many firms had been through a rough period in the last three years and were now keen to get back on track.
All this week, TheBusinessDesk.com, in association with Grant Thornton, is looking at how the flow of finance is likely to affect the growth plans of the vital mid-market sector.
David Ascott, partner, corporate finance, Grant Thornton, said: “The findings of this year’s report present a fascinating, if somewhat complex, picture for the UK’s mid-market: there is growing optimism that the financing environment is improving and businesses are keen to get back onto a growth track.
“But the banks are still not opening the funding taps, and so more aggressive growth strategies remain on hold.
“The mid-market looks to be digging in for the long haul.”
To read more about the flow of finance into the mid-market sector download a free copy of the Grant Thornton The Finance Flow Supplement
The Finance Flow was originally commissioned in 2008 to gauge the mood of the important mid-market sector and about how firms planned to structure their financing needs with the onset of recession.
The first of the reports, which questioned CEOs and CFOs from leading mid-market firms around the country, painted a bleak picture for the sector. It showed how firms had been battered by the credit crunch and were confronting the situation where their traditional forms of financing were no longer viable.
A second report, during the first quarter of 2010, questioned some 150 senior executives, and while it concluded things were improving, it warned the availability of funding remained a crucial factor for growth.
A year on, the latest report increased its sample size to 200 executives, representing firms with turnovers between £25-250m.
London-based firms made up 30% of the sample, with firms from the Midlands and the North each accounting for 20%. The remaining third was made up of firms from the South East and South West, which 6% from Scotland and Wales.
For the purposes of the report, the sector was split into five main industry groupings – business support services, retail, healthcare, industrials and chemicals and technology, media and communications (TMT).
