Small firms in Wales have the greatest propensity to utilise external finance in the UK, according to new research from the British Business Bank. Although its value of equity deals in a UK-wide context remains low with the continued dominance of London and south east of England.
Accordingly to the second Nations and Regions Tracker report from the UK Government’s economic development bank, Wales is only one of three UK nations and regions to buck a trend of falling usage of external finance. Some 40% of UK smaller businesses were using external finance in the four quarters to Q2 2022, down from 42% a year earlier. However, in Wales it remained unchanged at 47% - the highest rate in the UK. The only other parts of the UK above the average was the north west and the east of England.
On equity finance the report shows that in the first half of 2022 there were 35 reported equity deals in Wales, with an investment value of just over £39m compared to £25m in the same period last year. The number of deal represented 2% of the total number of UK deals in the first half of the year and on value just 0.5%. Wales has 4% of the total UK small business population.
