March 2016 results: revenue forecasts down, 58% of SMEs are in a positive growth mode, non-bank funding demand increases
Recently Cicero worked on the public relations campaign for the release of the fourth Scottish Pacific SME Growth Index.
This SME Growth Index provides an interesting snapshot of what Australia’s business owners are happy or concerned about, and takes a close look at sentiment around small business growth.
Sky Business News amongst others covered the release of the Index. It also got a great response on social media. You’ll find some of the media coverage, including a case study and CEO interview, here, here and here.
Most media picked up on the angle that the SME Growth Index found the number of SMEs resorting to personal finances (including credit cards with high interest charges) to support business growth is very high at 65%, with 17% regularly drawing on personal finances and 48% doing so occasionally.
Only 10 percent of SME owners had never settled business expenses using non-business sources.
Other interesting results from the latest Index include that the number of SMEs looking first to borrow from their main relationship bank is falling, and more and more small to medium businesses are looking beyond the banks for credit. There has been an increase of just over 20 percent in the demand for non-bank lending in the past six months.
Another significant finding was that SMEs were more than willing to pay higher rates to obtain finance if it meant they didn’t have to provide real estate security – much better not to have the family home at risk!
For a free, full copy of the latest SME Growth Index visit Scottish Pacific’s research page to download.
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