Three quarters of small and medium enterprises are confident they will be able to access the funding they need to grow their business over the next 12 months, according to the Aldermore Future Attitudes report.
This result for the fourth quarter of 2017 was an increase from the same period in the previous year when only 63 per cent felt this way.
The report, which surveyed over a thousand-business decision-makers across the UK, found that business owners are also more confident that their revenues will rise over the coming year.
The methods of securing this growth vary with half planning to increase marketing efforts, just under two fifths - 39 per cent - launching new products or services, and a third entering new markets.
Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director for business finance at Aldermore, said: “It is encouraging to see that optimism amongst SME leaders is increasing, with attitudes towards business revenues staying positive for the next 12 months.
"SMEs make an essential contribution to the UK economy and with Brexit discussions progressing, their ability to obtain finance and help support the growth of the UK economy will be crucial.
"Planning can be a difficult task, but to ensure ongoing success, every business owner needs to have a vision for growth and an understanding of how they would like to get there."
In total, more than two in five SME owners think they will see an increase in their revenues, compared to 39 per cent in Q4 2016, with over one in ten - 11 per cent - of bosses expecting to see a significant increase in profits over the next 12 months.
damian.fantato@ft.com
