Small businesses cautious about recovery

PA 182/09 Many bosses of small- to medium-size businesses are cautious about predicting 'green shoots' of economic recovery according to the latest findings from Nottingham University Business School's Institute for Enterprise and Innovation (UNIEI) Barometer project. They say little is being done to ease access to finance and credit despite numerous Government initiatives. In the most recent of these regular online parallel surveys of the small business community (UKBB) and its advisers (UKBAB), the single largest group of respondents — 44 per cent — are reserving judgment on whether business conditions are improving, and 34 per cent said that their business growth had remained static since January. Among those who feel trading conditions are improving, 35 per cent of business owners and 31 percent of advisers reported better experiences and 41 per cent believe their businesses will expand as the summer progresses. Just 21 per cent of business respondents and 25 per cent of business advisers say trade is continuing to deteriorate, while 36 per cent say growth has declined compared to 45 per cent in January. The university's UK Business Barometer tracks the prevailing views of companies with fewer than 250 employees across a range of sectors and has been running for a decade. One of the great strengths of the project is that the UKBB findings are complemented by those of its sister survey, the UK Business Adviser Barometer (UKBAB).