As small business leaders wrap up for 2023, research from Simply Asset Finance highlights the key pressures many are still looking to resolve as they plan for 2024.

While inflation and interest rates often take the limelight when it comes to economic pressures, it is rising operational (79%) and supply chain (75%) costs that top the list of concerns for SMEs, with productivity (72%) coming a close third.

And with COP28 also recently drawing to a close, over two-thirds of SMEs (64%) are worried about how much Net Zero will cost their business, as these financial concerns draw SME leaders’ attention away from growth and investing in their business.

It is pressures such as these which have meant that SMEs have committed to few investment opportunities in 2023. In the past 12 months, just one in five businesses have invested in new technology (22%) or equipment and machinery (20%). And one in five (20%) have introduced new/improved training programmes.

Among these SMEs, cost concerns are such that the average SME has around £85k set aside for contingency costs – a significant sum that’s not being invested in growth.

Despite this, confidence is high when it comes to business outlook. More than two in five (83%) of UK SMEs say they’re optimistic about the future success of their business.

But as they look to tackle these challenges moving into the New Year, almost half of SMEs (48%) admit that they don’t know where to look to find support for their business.

Mike Randall (pictured), CEO at Simply Asset Finance, said: “The last few years have been a tale of unparalleled hardship for UK SMEs. After a seemingly endless grind through Covid, economic stagnation, and spiralling inflation, there is growth on the horizon – and the fact that some many SMEs are optimistic about their outlook is incredibly encouraging.

“But if they are failed now, there will be countless missed opportunities for the future.[YO1] It’s essential that businesses across the UK don’t just have suitable funding and support available to them, but that they feel afford it and feel confident to use it. [YO2] SMEs up and down the country are ready to seize on growth opportunities and be the engine of the UK’s economic recovery. But significant action is required to keep UK business on the right track and ensure they’re in a position to seize them.

“Businesses shouldn’t need to hold back cash that could have been invested in growth in order to keep the lights on. Crucially, both their own and the wider economic situation may have shifted since they last structured their financing meaning that it may be possible, beneficial, and in fact advised, that they restructure their debt. This could help give them much welcome breathing room that they just didn’t realise was now available.

“It’s here where experienced and innovative finance providers really show their worth; by looking beyond the balance sheet to understand the unique wants and needs of SMEs – then giving them the on the ground support they need to seize on those hard earned and transformative growth opportunities in regions all over the UK.”