According to Close Brothers, one of PMD’s major funding partners,  one in five businesses is on the up – but access to finance is still a roadblock to growth.

More than half the business owners they spoke to felt that conditions have not changed much since 2016. The good news is that more SMEs are looking to expand than are planning to scale down, with just three in a hundred expecting to close their doors for business before the end of 2018.

But while business is improving for some firms, it isn’t necessarily translating to growth, SMEs are still finding it hard to get the finance they need, even with the varied and non-traditional funding routes now available. More than a tenth revealed their frustration that having identified opportunities, they were unable to access the finance to make them happen.