Businesses Seeking Finance To Fund Expansion Plans

Thu, 03 Mar 2011

A number of small businesses in the UK are seeking bank finance to help them expand into new markets, new research has revealed.

While business finance is mainly sought to help keep struggling firms afloat in the current economic climate, a survey conducted by Barclays Business found that some SMEs are "harbouring ambitions to expand their business".

According to the research, ambition is greatest amongst those SMEs with a turnover of £500,000 or more, with a fifth of these companies likely or fairly likely to apply for a bank loan in 2011 for expansion purposes.

In addition, 21 per cent of SMEs would use additional investment to purchase new equipment, with the figure increasing to 27 per cent for larger firms.

Travers Clarke-Walker, Product and Marketing Director of Barclays Business, said: "It is particularly encouraging that SMEs would invest additional finance in expanding into new markets or purchasing new equipment as it indicates a real focus on growth and level of confidence for the year ahead."

"In the current climate, for some businesses, borrowing is a valuable lifeline. However, for others it can also be a way to expand and diversify into new markets."

"Obviously this is crucial for individual businesses but also for the UK economy, as their growth will drive the recovery."

The findings have been released to coincide with new figures from Barclays Business which show that the bank is continuing to support UK businesses, with four out of five business loan applications from SMEs still being approved.

In 2010, Barclays Business helped a record 106,000 businesses get off the ground.
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