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Recession risk sparks concern for SMEs as demand for finance rises
Small business owners are concerned about the possibility of a recession , according to iwoca ’ s Q2 2022 SME Expert Index .
With both the cost of living and of doing business climbing , 77 % say their small business clients are worried about the possibility of a recession .
By contrast , fewer than 7 % of brokers reported their SME clients as ‘ unconcerned ’. iwoca ’ s Q2 2022 SME Expert Index is based on insight from
UK brokers , who collectively submitted over 1,350 applications for unsecured finance on behalf of their SME clients .
As SMEs face mounting economic uncertainty , their demand for finance has risen sharply . Almost half of brokers ( 46 %) submitted more loan applications for small business financing in July 2022 compared to the June 2022 – a continuation of an upwards trend since the end of last year , with 28 % citing the same in Q4 2021 .
Study finds that small businesses owe nearly £ 23,000 in late payments
New data from the Intuit QuickBooks Late Payments Bulletin has revealed that the ongoing issue of late payments among small businesses is persisting , hitting small businesses ’ cashflow at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is intensifying .
QuickBooks ’ study found that the average amount owed to small businesses with at least one overdue invoice has risen 6 % year on year to £ 22,700 in May 2022 , up from £ 21,400 the previous year – which is 65 % of the average small business ’ typical monthly turnover .
“ Tighter profit margins and limited cashflow mean that the rising cost-of-living is even more of a burden for the smallest businesses ,” said Jolawn Victor , Vice President and UK Country Manager , Intuit QuickBooks . “ Now we ’ re seeing that , as ever , it ’ s these businesses who are impacted most by late payments .”
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SAS collaborates with Nanyang Polytechnic to deploy Industry 4.0 solutions |
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SAS Institute , a leader in analytics software and services , has announced a collaboration with Nanyang Polytechnic ( NYP ) to help Singapore ’ s small and medium-sized manufacturers manoeuvre headwinds via advanced analytics . |
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Leveraging SAS Institute ’ s data analytics and visualisation capabilities , the team at NYP ’ s School of Engineering developed an enterprise-toshopfloor platform that helps precision-engineering manufacturers boost productivity and growth . |
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Harnessing Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and cloud technology , the new platform , which is currently undergoing production trials , has shown a significant increase in operational effectiveness through predictive analytics and forecasting and enabling a 100 % sampling of parts . |
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The platform will also offer Industry 4.0 solutions that incorporate open-source low-cost devices to connect two networks , resulting in cost-effective and scalable solutions . With every additional volume of data acquired by the devices , the modelling and training of the AI models will concurrently improve . |
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