In 2023, UK SMEs will confront significant hurdles

After failing to meet the targeted investment target of £710,000 due to market volatility, the UK's small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) face significant investment problems in 2023.

According to research commissioned by Together, a specialist lender in the UK, UK SMEs invested an average of £565,000 in 2022, falling £145,000 shy of their anticipated investment goal. Fuel costs, labour shortages, global supply chain disruptions, and excessive taxes have been identified as potential issues for UK firms in the coming year.

According to the findings, nearly a third of 300 UK SMEs have delayed growing their personnel this year, two-thirds (67%) have postponed plans to increase their energy ratings, and 17% have put off plans to improve heating.

Chris Baguley, corporate managing director of Together, emphasised the need for the governments to establish a long-term plan to support UK firms next year, which is "still missing".

Baguley commented: "Thorough and direct intervention from the government to financially support the growth ambitions for UK SMEs is currently lacklustre. With the CBI's economists already forecasting the UK's recession will last until the end of next year and fears of 'stagflation' mounting - the picture for 2023 is far from positive."

In October, they commissioned the study, which included 300 UK SMEs with 6-250 people.

By fLEXI tEAM