Entrepreneurs reveal optimism over access to finance.

Date: 2nd August 2011

Small business owners and those looking to start up their own business could be among those encouraged by the findings of a new report.

According to research recently published by Investec Specialist Private Bank, some of the country's top entrepreneurs believe finance will be easier to access over the coming 12 months.

Indeed, figures from the firm's latest report showed that 39 per cent of those asked believe that access to external sources of finance will be "normal" or "easy" this year.

This marks a rise from just 25 per cent who were of this opinion six months ago.

Ed Cottrell, a spokesman for Investec, said: "Our findings suggest that many of the country's leading entrepreneurs are feeling optimistic about their future prospects, but these could be put in jeopardy if they cannot obtain access to capital.

"This is a very exciting opportunity for us, and we are proactively looking to lend more to our core audience of mid-sized companies who wish to raise between £5 million and £50 million to support organic or acquisitive growth strategies."

Posted by Chris Fenwick