Small business owners are more optimistic now than they were this time last year despite the cloudy macroeconomic picture, according to a new survey, with eight in 10 expecting their company to grow over the next year.
Research from American Express and Small Business Saturday UK found that the number of small business owners who expected growth over the next year was up by 13 percentage points from 2022.
That comes despite the fact that one third of the 1,000 SME owners who responded said that running a business has got harder over the last year. Just over half of respondents said inflation was the top challenge facing their business, while around a quarter cited business rates and taxes.
Michelle Ovens, director of Small Business Saturday UK, said: “It has been another really tough year for small businesses, so it’s great to see the tide starting to turn and businesses regaining confidence.
“Behind our nation’s 5.5 million small firms are real people who have shown phenomenal bravery, determination, and resilience in the face of all that has been thrown at them in recent years.
“With over a third saying it is increasingly hard to run a small business, and three quarters feeling there needs to be more recognition of entrepreneurship, we need to support them more than ever, and celebrate their incredible impact on local communities and the wider economy.”
Amanda Salt, Vice President, Small & Medium Enterprises, UK Card Services at American Express, said: “While SMEs continue to face a challenging environment, there are real signs of positivity in our research, with an uplift in business owners and leaders feeling confident about the future, along with plans to invest across a number of areas of their operations.”
