Clearview National June 2016 - Issue 175 | Page 90

INSTALLERSUPPORT

370,000 small
businesses plan
to cease trading
With 1 in 5 businesses struggling to
handle the increased burden of red
tape, is it time for further support
for the nation’s small businesses?
»»OVER 1.8 MILLION JOBS
are at risk as 370,000 small
businesses plan to cease trading
over the next five years, according
to a survey commissioned by
business for sale marketplace,
Bizdaq (www.mybizdaq.com).
TO STAY OR WALK AWAY?
The research, conducted
by Opinium, found that over
370,000 small businesses are
planning to simply cease trading
in the next five years, with these
businesses employing 4.85
employees on average. A further
424,000 business owners plan to
exit their business by selling within
the next five years; selling being a
method which is far more likely to
protect jobs.
Of the 1.8 million jobs that
could be affected, 370,000 of
those will be within the next 12
months, as small business owners
start to cease trading.
The survey found that business
owners in London are most
likely to be thinking about an
exit within the next five years.
43% of London small business
owners considering an exit, whilst
those in the East of England are
happiest running their businesses
with only 11% of owners
considering exiting.
Interestingly, the revenue of
businesses didn’t have an impact
on whether an owner was planning
to leave – the East of England
had both the lowest exit rate

and the lowest average revenue,
whilst the East Midlands, which
had the highest average revenue,
was second only to London for
business owners looking to exit.
UNSURE ON BREXIT
Small business owners across
the UK were still split on the
subject of whether to Brexit or
not – 41% answered that the UK
should stay, 44% answered the
UK should leave, and 15% said
they are still undecided.
The region most likely to
support staying was Wales with
53% of respondents saying the UK
should remain, whilst the North
West is most likely to support
leaving, with 59% answering that
the UK should leave.

‘small business
owners are
relatively undecided’
It also revealed that small
businesses with a higher revenue
were more likely to want to stay
in the EU. The average annual
revenue of those wanting to stay
was £93,000 compared to those
wanting to leave at £84,000 – a
£9,000 difference.
The industries most likely
to support the Brexit were the
hospitality, construction and
professional services industries,
whilst those in education, IT and
wholesale want to stay.

90 » JUN 2016 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

CAPITALISE AND
SAVE JOBS
Sean Mallon, CEO of Bizdaq,
said, “It is astonishing, given the
government’s rhetoric around
job creation, that little is being
done to preserve the number of
jobs at risk within Britain’s small
businesses. If the government
were to make leaving a business
easier and promote this as the
“norm”, then hard working
small business owners could
capitalise on their efforts and we
could retain over 1.8m jobs - it’s
a win-win situation.
“It is clear that Britain’s small
business owners are relatively
undecided as to whether it’s
“better the devil you know” and
remain in the EU, or whether
their business would actually
benefit from less EU regulation
and more state control. It
seems the larger the business,
the more EU trade they are
likely to have and there seems

to be a correlation with these
companies wanting to remain in
the EU.”
Bizdaq, the online marketplace
for selling or buying a small
business, is dedicated to making
the process of selling a business
easier and more cost effective for
small business owners. Bizdaq
features include an online
valuation tool that instantly
estimates the likely sale value
of any business, step-by-step
instructions and notifications to
help business sellers and buyers
through the business transfer
process for themselves. This
report is part of Bizdaq’s mission
to increase the number of small
business owners successfully selling
their business and thus avoiding a
sudden closure when the business
is no longer viable, saving jobs and
enabling business owners to realise
the value of their hard work.
Source: www.mybizdaq.com