41% of British SMEs Think That Brexit Has Negatively Impacted Their Business

When it comes to Brexit and the effects on the UK’s economy, it seems like small businesses are struggling as a result of the Article 50 trigger.

According to a new study by Liberis,  41% of small business owners said that they had felt a negative impact on their business since negotiations to leave the European Union began. Amongst two of the aspects that are struggling the most include product sourcing and servicing with 27% of businesses citing these two areas as a struggle since the country’s decision to leave the

The survey, which was conducted by 500 SME owners in the UK, also found that almost two-thirds of SMEs voted to remain in the EU with the IT, marketing and online sectors compromising 77% of the total remain-voters.

The retail industry workers were most likely to vote to Leave with 17% of business owners voting to leave. This may suggest that the free market may not be as important to UK retailers.

The study also found that the highest-earning businesses with an annual turnover of over £1 million voted to leave the European Union more than any other SME. A massive 60% of micro-businesses with a turnover of less than £50,000 per year voted to remain.

Surprisingly, 54% of British business owners said that they hadn’t noticed a positive or negative impact on the Brexit decision.

When asked about the positive impacts of Brexit on their business, only 12% of business owners reported that their sales had improved since the decision. The study also found that 65% of those asked don’t believe that leaving the EU will affect their business’ ability to find, source and hire new staff.

As far as importing and exporting businesses are concerned, business owners were split on their decision on predicting their ability to source products, services or materials at a reasonable price after Brexit is finalised. 52% of these business owners assumed a negative impact.