January 2013
Featured in this insight: Business & enterprise, Financial services
Survey sees UK SMEs feeling optimistic about growth in 2013: Aviva’s latest bi-annual SME Pulse survey has shown that UK small and medium enterprises are increasingly looking to expand their business operations in 2013 – this optimism is also helped by the majority believing they currently have the right insurance in place.
A total of 48% of the SME businesses owners polled that had set up shop within the last two years are planning to expand this year.
The main factors influencing their confidence are relief on business rates (60%), Government initiatives that reduce red tape (58%), broadened economic growth indicators (57%), improved lending to SMEs (48%) and reports on insolvency rates (40%).
Furthermore, 69% of the respondents reported feeling confident they have the right insurance in place for their business, compared with 51% who said the same in 2011. Only 12% of the 500 SMEs who took part in the survey had no insurance, compared with 20% in 2011.
The Aviva study also found that 30% of the SMEs polled had diversified their business in the past six months to maintain profitability, compared to 17% during the same period in 2011.
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