Access to funding is not improving, say West Mids firms
Most small businesses in the West Midlands believe it will be at least a year before they can enjoy a full return to growth and better access to finance from the banks, according to asset management firm Clifton.
The firm’s latest quarterly survey reveals that 68 per cent of West Midlands-based companies say they have not detected any sign of an improvement in the lending environment for small to medium sized businesses, and the same number do not expect to see any growth in the next 12 months.
Just one in 20 firms had managed to successfully secure finance through the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG), the new scheme which was introduced to stimulate bank lending to small and medium sized firms. A further four per cent reported that their funding applications were rejected by the scheme.
“The UK has been lagging behind other major economies in emerging from recession and all the evidence suggests that the banks remain reluctant to lend,” says Neil Greenaway, managing director at Clifton.
“Our latest survey appears to confirm this gloomy prognosis, with a solid majority still of the belief that it will be well into 2011 before small businesses can expect to see a more benign bank lending environment."
