Businesses in Wales are returning to growth, according to the ICAEW 2010 UK Enterprise Survey. In the 2010 survey the proportion of the country’s businesses planning any turnover growth over the next two years is up significantly to 82 per cent from 65 per cent in 2009.
The survey shows over the next two years, in common with businesses in UK overall, increasing profitability is the key business objective for around half of businesses in Wales. Businesses in Wales are more likely to mention increasing cash balances as their key objective (20%) than businesses in the UK overall (8%) and they are more likely to mention reducing costs as one of their objectives (86%) than businesses in the UK overall (74%).
David Lermon, ICAEW Director for Wales, said: “Businesses in Wales appear more confident of the future growth despite the difficulties in the economy but the challenges they face will be similar to those before the recession.
“The 2010 survey does highlight again that businesses in Wales are significantly less likely than their counterparts across the UK to be globally active and to have operations and activities outside the UK.
“This may be the result of businesses in Wales generally being smaller than those in the UK overall and smaller businesses generally show lower levels of global engagement.”
The survey reveals that Welsh businesses are more likely than those in the UK overall to say that their competitiveness has been adversely affected over the past year by changes in energy costs.
They are also concerned that changes in interest rates will have a negative impact on their business over the next year.
Businesses in Wales are generally less likely to have a number of the strategies for developing their international competitiveness over the next five years than businesses in the UK overall. In particular, they are less likely than businesses in the UK overall to say they have plans for acquisitions in other countries to enhance their market presence (11% compared with 20% for the UK overall) and are less likely to plan to increase the extent to which they adapt products or services to overseas markets (22% compared with 35% for the UK overall).
They are also significantly less likely to say that they have plans to expand into or increase market share in countries outside the UK in the next two to three years (29% compared with 43% for businesses in the UK overall).
In common with businesses in the UK overall, around half in Wales consider the UK’s regulatory and taxation environment to be business friendly.
