75% of of SMEs, representing 4.13 million small and medium sized businesses across the UK, are confident that they will be able to access the funding they need to grow their business over the next 12 months, compared to only 63% in Q4 2016, according to the latest Aldermore Future Attitudes report.

The report, which surveyed over a thousand-business decision-makers across the UK, found that business owners are also more confident that their revenues will rise over the coming year. The methods of securing this growth vary with 50% planning to increase marketing efforts, 39% launching new products or services, and 33% entering new markets.

In total, 42% of SME owners think they will see an increase in their revenues, compared to 39% in Q4 2016, with 11% of bosses expecting to see a significant increase in profits over the next 12 months.

Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director, business finance at Aldermore, said: “It is encouraging to see that optimism amongst SME leaders is increasing, with attitudes towards business revenues staying positive for the next 12 months. SMEs make an essential contribution to the UK economy and with Brexit discussions progressing, their ability to obtain finance and help support the growth of the UK economy will be crucial.

“Planning can be a difficult task, but to ensure ongoing success, every business owner needs to have a vision for growth and an understanding of how they would like to get there.”