Life After Lockdown: What UK businesses are planning going forward

As the country emerges from lockdown, it’s a very different landscape for a lot of businesses.

The majority of UK mid-market businesses (88 per cent) have made fundamental changes to their business model during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report.

The research also found that 50 per cent are planning to continue with their new model going forward, as the pandemic has highlighted areas for reflection and improvement.

Digital transformation was ranked top, with 48 per cent of UK companies anticipating they will need to make more use of technology. This was followed by changes to improve their organisational flexibility (41 per cent), improve their crisis management process (36 per cent) and build more resilience in their supply chains (33 per cent).

Less than a third (31 per cent) of UK companies feel optimistic about the outlook of the country’s economy over the next 12 months.

This fall in optimism is also impacting revenue expectations with less than a third of UK companies (32 per cent) expecting to see an increase over the next twelve months - the lowest level recorded by the IBR since it launched in 2011. On average, UK firms expect revenues to fall by 11 per cent in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Economic uncertainty was cited as the biggest constraint to growth for the UK mid-market (70 per cent). A shortage of orders (51 per cent) and a shortage of finance (45 per cent) were also highly ranked, both increasing in significance since the second half of 2019 (+12 and +11 percentage points respectively).

Andy Wood, managing partner Yorkshire and North East at Grant Thornton, commented: “Mid-market companies are the lifeblood of our region’s economy and after an incredibly challenging period for many business leaders in Yorkshire, it’s not a surprise that so many feel that their strategies have changed forever.

“Tenacity, agility and resilience are qualities in abundance in this region and they will be fundamental to success as we move into the critical next few months, particularly as the Government winds down its Job Retention Scheme.

“Rising to this challenge is about having a willingness to embrace change, do things differently, and pursue new opportunities for growth post the pandemic.”