Access to Finance Crucial for Yorkshire Growth

30th November 2011

Nine out of ten South Yorkshire companies believe access to finance is crucial to unlocking economic growth in the region, according to a recent survey.

  The snapshot survey of Yorkshire businesses was conducted at a Sheffield seminar held in partnership by Irwin Mitchell, Hart Shaw, Lloyds Bank, Finance Yorkshire, YABA and the FD Centre, which gave companies the opportunity to find out about all aspects of business finance.   The results revealed that: 94 per cent believe that access to finance is crucial for unlocking economic growth in the region; 38 per cent of businesses were actively looking to secure finance; half of businesses believe that access to finance won't improve or will in fact get worse over the next year; however 63 per cent do not believe access to finance is currently a problem in Yorkshire. James Bullock, Partner in the Corporate team at Irwin Mitchell, who hosted the event, said: -Access to finance is clearly one of the biggest drivers of economic growth. While over half of businesses believe the prospects of access to finance improving over the next year are slim, there are many good companies who are looking to grow and need some injection of capital in order to give them a boost. -There are ways, even in the current climate, to get access to funding and businesses are starting to take advantage of the expertise on offer from financial and legal professionals who are helping to arm people with the knowledge to be able to improve their chances of securing the help they are seeking.