Nearly half (48 per cent) of business owners who launched their companies in the past two years are planning to expand their operations in 2013, with 65 per cent predicting strong sales in the first half of the year.
These are the findings of the latest SME Pulse survey from insurer Aviva, which also showed that nearly twice as many businesses had diversified in the past six months to maintain profitability compared with the start of 2011 at 30 per cent to just 17 per cent.
Another 23 per cent of SME owners intend to continue diversifying in the first six months of 2013 in order to keep their business healthy.
David Bruce, commercial product manager at Aviva, said: “It’s promising to see such positive attitudes for the start of the year across the SME market.
“There is a growing focus and importance on the sector in driving economic recovery and this optimism is further substantiated by the number of SMEs predicting ambitious growth plans for 2013. These are the very businesses that are vital and lie at the very heart of Britain’s economic recovery.
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