WHK SME Pulse Survey - Overview
The WHK SME Pulse Survey is conducted independently 4 times per year to gauge, and raise awareness of, what small & medium (SME) businesses see as positive for growth - and what they see as most challenging to growth in their operating environment.
September 2011
WHK have released the 5th edition of the survey with the September 2011 resuts showing a growing lack of confidence in the SME sector, some of the key findings include:
- 69% are not looking to hire new staff at all
- 83% do not understand the effect of the proposed carbon tax
- 73% expect the carbon tax to reduce their profits
- 50% are not looking to increase borrowing levels
- 1/3rd of SMEs are still experiencing interest rate increases
- 95% of SMEs still see their bank as disloyal, indicating these relationships have continued to decline, rather than improve over the past 6 months
Download the full September 2011 Report here
June 2011
WHK have released our June SME Pulse Survey, download the full results here.
This quarter's key findings include:
- Access to debt funding does not appear to be becoming easier for SMEs
- Two-speed economy: Victorian SMEs are doing it tougher than the rest of Australia, and are reducing their debt far more quickly or taking on much less
- SMEs are increasingly needing to prop up their business with private equity, over half have done so in the past year
- Banks are increasingly asking for the residential home or other private assets for business lending security - over 2/3rds of SMEs have been required to use provide this as security in the past year
- As a result of this business and private lending are becoming more & more connected, which is not positive for promoting choice & competition amongst lenders for SME business
- The rising Australian dollar: SMEs attitude has swung to the negative since Nov-10, especially for Medium sized business
March 2011 Survey
Download the full MARCH 2011 WHK SME Pulse Survey results here
In the March survey we ask SMEs their thoughts on:
- If small and medium business is on the Federal Government Agenda
- What impact the early 2011 natural disasters will have on the Australian economy
- If they believe their bank has been loyal to them in the past 12 months
- If access to credit for SMEs has eased over the past 6 months
- Our core credit index - The index tracks rate rises experienced by SMEs in the past quarter, and SMEs attitude to borrowing over the coming 12 months
November 2010 Survey
In November we asked SMEs their insights on:
- Australia's minority Government: Do SMEs think it can effectively govern, and will this impact the economy?
- The credit environment for SMEs: Are interest rates on their loans with the major banks continuing to rise as they are for residential loans?
- The National Broadband Network (NBN): do SMEs think it's a worthwhile investment?
- The rising Australian dollar: Do SMEs think they will be positively or negatively impacted?
- The trend to reduce the number of immigrants: Will this cause staffing issues for small and medium businesses?
August 2010 Survey
In August we asked SMEs what they believe are the key factors inhibiting their growth. The results as shown in the table below, show that the factors that make up the lending environment for SMEs are the main inhibitors to their current growth ambitions:
Please click to view Carl Walsh, Chief Executive, WHK Melbourne discuss the August WHK SME Pulse Survey findings with Sky Business Sky Business Video
For a copy of any edition of the WHK SME Pulse Survey, please contact us here.