Partner Article

South West SMEs continue to demonstrate high growth

15% of SMEs in the South West are continuing to demonstrate high growth levels, research from Experian has shown.

The figures were released as part of a Business Growth Fund commissioned study, which found that 4000 SMEs continue to demonstrate high growth, despite precarious economic conditions.

236 firms in the South West are described as high growth, with turnovers between £2.5m and £100m, and have expanded by at least 33% in the last three years.

Stephen Welton, CEO of BGF, commented on the data: “This data highlights that despite challenging market conditions, there is a steady base of UK SMEs and fast growing UK companies that continue to thrive across the UK and that operate in diverse industry sectors.

“It demonstrates the resilience of the group and the underlying quality of UK entrepreneurship. This is good news for the overall UK economy as these companies play a significant role in job creation and innovation and are a critical part of the economic recovery.

“As growth capital investors in high growth companies, we are encouraged by the fact that there is a clear addressable market.

“However we are also mindful that there is room for improvement. The question for us is how to expand the number of high growth companies and help those that are already demonstrating that level of growth move further, faster?

“The last two years have seen in the region of 70 investments of growth capital made into UK companies of this nature.

“Clearly there is scope for much more and we would certainly hope to make about 25 investments this year, and 30-40 investments per year in the longer term.

“In commissioning this data our aim is to create a new and additional measure of economic performance of mid-sized SMEs.

“Our hope is that over time it may even become aspirational for business owners and entrepreneurs as a way for them to measure and benchmark their own performance. We will wait with interest to see how the data changes over the coming months and years.”

The study also found a gradual shift in the sectors that high growth companies operate in; moving away from manufacturing towards business services.

Nationally, the highest proportion of companies in the BGF Barometer come from the business sector at 5794, followed by manufacturing at 4982, and retail at 2891.

While there is a spread of high growth companies across the UK, the highest level is in London where 1504 companies are based, representing 37% of the high growth segment.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .