-Impact of recession far from "black and white"
-Lasting impact has made businesses leaner and better equipped
-Businesses nominate "wish list" changes
An encouraging 51%* of UK agriculture businesses feel the recession has made their business more efficient, and see other positives including a greater focus on servicing their customers (15%), according to new research conducted as part of the Barclays Take One Small Step Campaign.
The research reveals the unexpectedly mixed impact of the recession. A perhaps expected 38% of the sector’s businesses have seen their working hours increase, but only 4% have seen recession-related redundancies.
Steve Cooper, Managing Director for Barclays Local Business said: "This research gives us the clearest understanding yet as to how agriculture related businesses in the UK are coping with the recession and, clearly, the small businesses in this sector are finding the upside of adversity wherever they can. Agriculture firms in particular have taken a pragmatic approach by tackling head-on the big challenges such as improving their business strategy, increasing innovation and focusing on their employees. Lessons have been learnt and I am sure in some cases the hard way."
Surprisingly, a third of agriculture firms surveyed in the UK (31 percent) believe they have not been affected by the recession.
When asked to rank the potential impact of a raft of changes on their business rather than consider wage reductions or job losses, there was a clear focus on recovering debts and receiving prompt payment of invoices. A drop in fuel duty was actually seen as the change which would have the single biggest impact on businesses in the agriculture sector.
Cooper said: "21% of agriculture firms claim the recession has made them chase late payments far more vigorously. This chimes with what we know through the popularity of our CreditFocus service. Since we launched our service last year, it’s been used for hundreds of thousands of credit checks, which is one of the key ways that businesses prevent late payments."
When asked how they would spend a hypothetical £100K cash injection:
• 31 per cent said they would move or expand to new facilities, possibly taking advantage of low property prices
• 26 percent of agriculture business owners said they would use the money to pay off debts and suppliers