SME Optimism On the Up as We Head into 2018

A recent study by Lloyds Bank has revealed that small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) are confident in their economic outlook.

A net balance of 48% are upbeat on their business prospects, up from the previous month, while 23% anticipate hiring more workers next year, down on the 28% seen in November.

Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank told The Daily Telegraph: “Despite a slight increase in overall business confidence, firms continue to remain concerned about the outlook for the economy. The results point to the economy continuing to expand in the fourth quarter at a similar pace to recent quarters. However, larger companies reported the weakest business prospects as well as the biggest concerns about the impact of Brexit.”

At the start of a New Year SME’s are exploring all prospects to ensure continual growth. Jenny Holloway, CEO of FashionCapital, Fashion Enter and the FTA comments:

“Great to see optimism is on the up but it’s about the doing!  I constantly meet people with great ideas, great gusto but the devil is always in the detail and you just can’t be a jobs worth! Roll up your sleeves and make the idea a reality.  

“Many of our designer clients love the design input but that is just a small proportion of running the business. Granted it’s also “everything” if the signature of the brand is not right it won’t succeed in such fragmented markets such as now, however running a business is all consuming – but it is achievable! 

“We started off with a staff of 2 and today we have 107…look at them in all their glory. So very proud of each and every one of them! Success needs team effort and each area of the business needs to be strong in order to compete in today’s cutthroat market.”

Meet the Fashion Enter team in this short You Tube video

Images of the team from the You Tube video.