The number of small and medium-sized businesses with cash available to invest in future growth has drastically fallen since 2009 due to an increase in customer late payments, according to a new study.
The study by the UK’s largest independent invoice finance provider, Bibby Financial Services, surveys more than 450 SME’s on a quarterly basis, and dates back to 2009, exploring how businesses have fared following the economic downturn.
Late payment is twice as big a problem for firms in 2013 than it was four years ago and the study identifies that while debtors are taking longer to pay invoices, the number of firms with cash available to invest has slumped from 20 per cent, to just two per cent.
The findings have prompted calls for bigger businesses in the UK to face up to their responsibility to support SME’s by ensuring the prompt payment of invoices.
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