Research highlights north-south divide over financial worries

Date: 23rd September 2010

Businesses in the in the south of the UK have better access to funding and are less worried about their finances, new research has shown.

A recently-published survey by Leoni Sceti Group (LSG), the corporate finance advisory boutique, showed that firms operating in the north of England are twice as likely to be in debt as their southern counterparts.

According to the study, which was carried out by the Mackman Group, just ten per cent of companies based in the north are debt free.

By way of comparison, almost 25 per cent of southern-based firms responding to the survey said they have no debts.

Patrick Leoni Sceti, managing director of LSG, said: "This research comes at a critical time for the future of UK smaller firms as we anxiously wait to see exactly where the government's spending cuts will fall and who will be affected the most.

"It shows how the financial crisis and resulting economic conditions have truly affected the way small firms think, plan and operate and, critically, has served to widen the north-south divide."

Posted by Thomas Fletcher