‘Exports biggest driver of business growth for many SMEs’
1 min read
The importance of overseas sales was highlighted this week with a survey showing that exporting is now the biggest business growth area for nearly a fifth of UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) exporting is now the biggest growth area for 19% t of the UK's 4.8 million SMEs.
The independent study, commissioned by business and finance software provider Exact, revealed an average 54% of SMEs now sell products or services abroad, with 68% of manufacturers exporting.
More than two thirds (68%) of those who currently export saw export sales increase in 2013 on the previous year. Among these companies, exports now make up at least 10% of total sales for over half of UK SMEs (51%), and for nearly a fifth of them (18%) it now accounts for over half of sales.
The survey also revealed that having a specific export strategy can pay dividends. Of those SMEs that did see export figures grow last year, 74% had business plans in place, of which 85% said increasing exports was very much part of their strategy. This compares to those who did not have business plans in place, where only 53% saw exports grow last year.
