Latest figures from the Bank of England of lending to businesses show a continuation in the decline of total money lent to UK businesses. But small businesses appear to slightly better off than their larger corporate counterparts.
The figures to June 2014 reveal that the total amount of loans (including overdrafts) currently outstanding to businesses decreased by £3.4 billion in June, compared to the average monthly decrease of £0.9 billion over the previous six months. This results in a twelve-month fall of -3.8% in the stock of loans currently outstanding in banks.
However, a glimmer of hope for small businesses. Within these figures, loans (including overdrafts) outstanding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increased by £0.2 billion, compared to the average monthly decrease of £0.5 billion over the previous six months. So unlike their larger corporate counterparts, UK small business owners are coming out on top.
That said the overall stock of loans advanced to small businesses has contracted by -2.8% over the twelve-months compared to June 2013 but this compares favourably to the overall fall of 3.8% for businesses of all sizes.
One important point to remember is that these figures relate to the amount outstanding at the end of the month i.e. existing loans, plus new money lent in the month, less money paid back during the month. When we delve further into the figures, particularly in relation to small businesses, the amount of new money being lent each month is showing a slight increase,
Monthly New Loans to Small Businesses
April £4.1b
May £4.3b
June £4.8b
Of course, these new loans are being netted off against monthly loan repayments and overdrafts paid down and here we see that small businesses are more or less paying back what they taking in new loans
Monthly Repayments by Small Businesses
April £4.5b
May £4.3b
June £4.7b
The net result looks like this:
Month New Loans Repayments Net Amount
April £4.1b £4.5b -0.5b
May £4.3b £4.3b 0.0b
June £4.8b £4.7b 0.1b
So are we seeing early signs of banks stepping back in to the SME market? If so, this growth is being offset by small businesses which would rather pay debt off than take on more; the appetite amongst small businesses to borrow may not as strong as many believe it to be.
Of course the other argument is that the ‘new loans’ figure should be a lot higher resulting in positive growth but it is the banks that don’t have the appetite to lend.
In reality it’s a bit of both!
Further to your recent presentation at LEAD Wales just wanted to say it was very refreshing to see somebody talk passionately and positively about finance, very insightful!
I wanted to thank you for such an insightful, energetic, and entertaining talk at the Kevin Green Wealth event on securing funding and creating a successful plan. It was brilliantly executed and a pleasure to listen to and the ideas I’ve learned are definitely going to help me in going forward.
Hi Rob, it was so interesting and entertaining listening to you at the Kevin Green Wealth Coach Workshop in Reading this weekend! I didnt realise you can find Finance proposals such fun!. Brilliant tips! Thanks.
Rob delivered a series of 3 workshops aimed at understanding how finance houses look at finance propositions with the aim for us as a team to deliver more of a bespoke offering to our customer base. The training was delivered to a mixture of staff who work with new businesses start-ups and existing established businesses across Mid & South West Wales. Rob delivered the training with an abundance of passion and has really helped my team look at financial propositions in a different light, many thanks again Rob and I look forward to work with you in the near future.
Rob kindly agreed to attend the recent Pontypridd RFC sponsors networking evening and delivered what can only be described as an excellent talk on 5 Tactics to Boost Your Business and Your Profits. He kept the audience engaged throughout and the feedback from everyone was excellent. Rob is very knowledgeable on business and finance and on top of that is a genuine nice guy. We hope to have him back at a future event and I have no hesitation in recommending Rob’s services.