Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
A significant proportion of small businesses wouldn’t be able to survive a second spike of COVID-19, according to new research.
Sage’s latest report, ‘Survival, Resilience and Growth: placing small businesses at the heart of the UK’s economic recovery’, says that 86 per cent of respondents believe a second wave would have a negative impact on their business. Meanwhile, 39 per cent say that it would be severe and a further 15 per cent say their businesses could not survive it.
What’s more, one in two SMEs say they’re not confident they oculd handle a 20 per cent drop in revenue between now and September. A significant number (39 per cent) of businesses aren’t even sure that they’ll return to profitability by December 2020.
These businesses say they would struggle with other issues like a decrease in customers, losing key talent, cyber security and disruption in their supply chain.
Problems will also arise in the early months of 2021 as businesses will need to make payments that have been delayed due to the pandemic.
Dealing with a second spike or coronavirus and other challenges
Small firms are relying on preparation, liquidity and digitisation to protect them against future crises.
Some 40