Independent Study Reviews Availability of Bank Finance for UK SMEs

BDRC Continental has published an independent study into the availability of finance for the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The report is the first edition of the quarterly SME Finance Monitor.

The findings are based on over 5,000 telephone interviews conducted among UK businesses with up to £25m turnover between March and June 2011.

Key highlights include:

• Not all SMEs use external funding. Half (51%) of SMEs are using external finance, rising to 81% of those with 50-249 employees.
• Certain types of SME were less likely to be offered what they wanted by their banks.
• Is there an unmet need for finance? Fifteen percent of all SMEs can be described as ‘unrequited’ – that is, in the past 12 months they had wanted to apply for funding but had not done so.
• Looking ahead, one in five SMEs plan to apply for or renew facilities in the next three months.

Shiona Davies, the director at BDRC Continental who led the research, said: “The research shows that most applicants were successful, but that there are certain SMEs that were less likely to get facilities.”

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