SME survey

What does your turnover and profit look like over the last year and looking to the next?

At the time of writing, the UK has been in the grips of COVID-19 for 21 months and this has had significant impact on the economy. This survey looks at historic performance and future predictions of those that completed the survey (45 respondents). It is open to interpretation as to the reason for growth, stagnation or decline via the answers, as no further information was gleaned at the time.

When asked about performance over the last 12 months, 51.1% had experienced growth 31.1% a decline, with the balance, 17.8%, staying the same (see figure 1). Compared to a survey taken in September 2020, this is a fairly similar result on the historic performance at that time: growth 54%, decline 21.7%, same 19.1% and 5.2% unsure (a tad worrying that 1 in 20 businesses didn’t know their performance! Although, reassuringly no one was unsure in the current survey).

Looking at the prediction from that time, there is some similarity with the current results: growth 51.1%, decline 8.5%, same 25.5% and 14.9% unsure but with a more optimistic outlook than now; albeit different respondents – so no direct correlation.

Taking a look at the future outlook this time around on turnover (profit), this was the outcome: growth 68.9% (66.6%), decline 13.3% (15.6%), same 15.6% (11.1%) and 2.2% (6.7%) unsure (see figures 2 & 3). So despite what has been thrown at small businesses in recent times, there still seems to be a positive view on what is ahead. This is encouraging as SMEs represent a significant contribution to UK plc!

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Get involved

To take part in the next survey about marketing spend – visit here: https://forms.gle/ TdYc7BHX3px9jFgd9. The results will be shared in the next edition of this magazine.