Eight out of ten scale-up businesses in financial services sector think Brexit will have no impact on them

• Smith & Williamson has conducted the largest ever sentiment study of the UK’s scale-up business community: Dream bigger: The scale-up moment
• Just 10 months before Brexit, 94% of high growth businesses in the financial services sector are planning to take on more staff
• 74% of FS scale-ups report improved financial health among their trading partners

More than half (56%) of the scale-up businesses in the financial services sector believe that the Government’s approach to Brexit and international trade will benefit them, while 16% say it will have no impact at all, according to a new report: Dream bigger: The scale-up moment, from Smith & Williamson, the accountancy, tax and investment management group.

Just ten months before the UK is due to leave the European Union, the findings suggest high growth businesses in financial services are in a bullish mood with nine out of ten (94%) of the businesses questioned planning to take on new staff to keep pace with growth. In addition 74% report improved financial health among their trading partners.

Scale-up businesses in financial services are also optimistic about other areas of government policy agenda, with more than half (62%) supportive of current regulatory policy and 72% believing they ultimately stand to benefit from the recent Apprenticeship Levy. In fact, when asked, 78% of financial services scale-up businesses said they felt Government policy was supportive of business compared to 52% of their slower growth competitors.

Defined as an enterprise which has grown in either headcount or revenue by 20% for three consecutive years, from a starting position of ten or more employees, scale-ups drive significant economic growth, create a huge number of jobs and have been identified as a potential solution to the UK’s productivity challenge.

Relatively few businesses experience the scale-up moment – less than one in 40. To address this, Smith & Williamson undertook the largest ever sentiment study of this vital business community, interviewing 500 scale-ups and over 500 firms yet to achieve their scale-up moment, charting the secrets of their success to enable more SMEs to find their own route to growth.

Lindsay Manson, scale-up lead in the financial services and markets group at Smith & Williamson, said: “It’s been fascinating to gain insight into how such successful companies think and feel. We have uncovered considerable differences between scale-ups and the rest of the business community, in both mentality and approach. But, 91% of businesses want to grow further, and I am convinced almost any of them can emulate scale-up business success – provided they have the right growth toolkit.

“These high-growth firms are also very positive when it comes to apprenticeships. Perhaps this is because they place such a major focus on technology and innovation and therefore have a greater need for tech-savvy young people.”

What sets UK scale-up businesses and their founders apart?

The study also considered what traits scale-up businesses and their founders share across all sectors. One key conclusion is that their attitude towards tech and innovation is giving them an edge. This could explain why younger entrepreneurs, raised as digital natives, are flourishing, with 42% of scale-up founders aged 34 and under.

Half (50%) of high-growth companies say technological advances have been critical to their growth, compared to just 18% of slower-growth firms. More than a third (34%) also believe that having an innovative business plan has been key to their success. This falls to a quarter (27%) among non-scale-ups, and to 21% among micro-companies, employing ten or less people.

Competitive, hungry, ready: the scale-up mindset

The research also shows that scale-ups display a greater sense of urgency than other businesses. Almost one in three (32%) reach their high-growth status in just three years, while nine in ten (89%) join the club within a decade of launching. After this, the chances of a business achieving consistent high growth fall significantly.

Any business can find out if it’s a scale-up, receiving a personalised report of how it compares in relation to its competition, across sector and region, using Smith & Williamson’s new online, interactive and accessible service to help businesses benchmark here.