A new report has found that the UK’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly optimistic about opportunities in 2022.

According to research from finance provider MarketFinance, 50% of the 2,000 SMEs it surveyed said that they were confident of an increase in customer demand in the next six to twelve months. In addition, 63% of companies expect to see grow over the next three years.

The respondents were also confident they would see a similar rise in turnover.

MarketFinance CEO Anil Stocker said: “It’s clear that the business environment has shifted, and SMEs are looking ahead with a quietly confident and cautiously optimistic view.”

Among the research’s findings, 70% of SMEs said that they plan to increase business investment in the next year. A quarter noted that they intend to hire staff and upgrade equipment or machinery and another third of companies are exploring global markets or considering M&A activity within a year.

“UK businesses intend to ramp up growth through domestic and international expansion, digital transformation and even M&A activity. But as they reset their post-pandemic goals for a post-pandemic, they’ll need to be confident of their funding base,” he added.

The research also found that more companies consider sustainability a priority, with 81% of SMEs saying they aim to make it part of their growth strategy.

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Furthermore, the majority of SMEs said that prudent borrowing is a key growth enabler. However, 71% said that they also no longer view traditional banking products as the obvious or convenient option. 23% of SMEs also said access to a broader range of borrowing options could enable them to increase investment even further.

“Given that so many SMEs are looking outside of traditional routes in their search for finance, we’re particularly proud to have been accredited by the British Business Bank as one of the few alternative providers under The Recovery Loan Scheme,” Stocker added.

“Schemes like the RLS are a golden opportunity for SMEs looking to gear up for growth, providing easily accessible funding at a lower cost across a wide range of products.

We expect to see a large number of SMEs taking advantage of the scheme over the next six months as their growth and expansion efforts gain momentum and they invest in ambitious plans for 2022 and beyond.”

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