New research from American Express and Small Business Saturday has found that most SME business owners are growing in confidence. However, a worrying 35% say that running a business has become harder over the past year, predominantly because of rising costs.
The findings show that:
- 79% of small business owners expect to grow their business over the next 12 months, up 13 percentage points year-on-year;
- 64% forecast that their business performance in the final quarter of 2023 will be better than the previous two years; just 15% of those surveyed believe it will be worse.
The annual Barometer survey of 1,000 UK SME owners and decision-makers has also found that a significant proportion of small firms are taking proactive action to drive growth over the coming months - 30% plan to ramp up sales and marketing activity, 25% aim to diversify and 20% will invest in new technology.
Amanda Salt, vice president at American Express, said: "While SMEs continue to face a challenging environment, there are real signs of positivity in our research, with an uplift in business owners and leaders feeling confident about the future, along with plans to invest across a number of areas of their operations."
Michelle Ovens, director of Small Business Saturday UK, added: "It has been another really tough year for small businesses, so it's great to see the tide starting to turn and businesses regaining confidence. Behind our nation's 5.5 million small firms are real people who have shown phenomenal bravery, determination and resilience in the face of all that has been thrown at them in recent years … we need to support them more than ever, and celebrate their incredible impact on local communities and the wider economy."
Written by Rachel Miller.