The report highlights the North West as one of the largest four regions within the UK with the other three being London, the South East and the East of England. The largest four regions account for 86% of equity investment and 69% of debt investment. Within the North West, a large portion of the investment seems to gravitate more towards the larger cities such as Manchester.
Further on in the report, it shows rurality can have an impact on funding, stating that rural businesses are seemingly more pressed into injecting personal funds. In the Banks Business Finance survey, 37% of rural-based business owners declared they had injected personal funds into the business in the last 12 months as opposed to 32% of urban-based business owners.
This leads to the question as to what the reasons for this could be when both equity and debt investment, if utilised correctly, can be important means for growth. Is it that there are not enough funding options in the regions? With the number of PE houses and finance providers, as well as the likes of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, potential funding options would appear to have never been greater.
Maybe it is a reluctance from business owners to use external funding, either equity or debt, as it may be viewed as a confusing world that is more trouble than it is worth? Alternatively maybe advisors and funders themselves are blinkered by businesses in the larger UK cities?
Whatever the reasons, it is clear that there is work to do and that there will be a number of opportunities to provide funding to robust businesses operating in regions across the UK.
The next steps
If you would like to look into the potential for raising equity or debt funding for your business or just to discuss potential growth plans and how we may be able to assist, get in touch with Andrew Hancock at a.hancock@uhy-uk.com or your usual UHY adviser.
