For many of us with school-age children, end of term reports landed in our inbox last week, as schools broke for the Christmas holidays, and as a business owner it’s always worth taking an end of year view of your company’s progress.

It’s been a tough year for most, with rising costs and labour shortages, exacerbated by autumn’s economic turmoil. As the dust settles slightly, financial experts are predicting that it may take up to 18 months for the economy to stabilise. Good cashflow will be key to weathering the storm and there are a number of business finance solutions which can help ensure there is enough in the pot to pay staff, suppliers and the tax man in 2023.

Another annual round-up which caught my eye recently was the British Business Bank’s Nations and Regions Tracker 2022 Report, a study which examines geographic patterns seen in UK small business finance. The survey, now in its second year, shows that the proportion of SMEs in the East of England which are willing to use finance to grow is 34 per cent, up five per cent year-on-year, perhaps a result of better awareness following the pandemic.

In fact, the average loan value taken by companies in the East of England under the government’s CBILS, BBLS and RLS schemes is £45,928. In our own Business Survey earlier this year, 80 per cent of respondents said they have started repaying their government-backed loan, with a further ten per cent extending their loan, and ten per cent having already settled their debt.

Beyond government-backed borrowing, asset finance is the most used form of finance, UK-wide, yet the East of England lags behind on lending with one of the lowest uses of overdrafts, credit cards and bank loans, according to the Nations and Regions Tracker. It’s interesting that there is a reluctance among business owners in our area to explore business finance, and it remains our mission as a broker to educate companies on the many benefits of utilising funding to protect cashflow, particularly at this challenging time.

More encouragingly, the tracker reported that there were 169 SME equity deals worth £1.4bn in the East of England last year, an increase of 14 per cent. Business in our region is clearly growing and there will undoubtedly be opportunities for companies in the future where funding will support ambition. While 2023 may have its challenges, I sincerely hope that any business which is currently being held back through lack of finance takes steps to organise funding and start the new year in the best shape possible. We are here to advise and look forward to helping businesses towards a successful 2023.