The Stark Reality

There is little point in denying that reality is biting for the majority. Our research shows that 79% of all SMEs have felt negative impacts for their business as a result of the current economic slowdown, with almost one quarter (22%) citing that impact as ‘significant’. In the construction industry, perhaps the hardest hit of all, 47% say they have experienced significant negative impacts (six out of ten have seen turnover fall in the last six months) and just one in ten remain unaffected by the slowdown. A startling three out of ten trading currently have serious concerns that they will not be trading by Autumn 2009. 7% believe they may not even last beyond the Spring.

Construction, retail and catering are also expecting to see the biggest decreases in staffing levels over the next six months. More than half of businesses in these sectors expect to see staff levels reduce. The slowdown is not restricted to these ‘worst affected’ sectors however; 43% of all expect to reduce headcount over the next six months. Likewise, 6 out of 10 expect to see a reduction in financial turnover in the next six months, with just 21% expecting to see increases. 67% also expect to see their cashflow weakened in the next six months. In all, just 16% of say that they have not felt any ill-effects of the slowdown, whilst one in twenty businesses say that they are actually booming.


Extract from: A Guide To Plain Sailing Through The Recession - Plantronics - www.plantronics.com.

The full guide can be downloaded here: http://www.sme-guide.co.uk/

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