PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Back in 2009, a review undertaken by Chris Rowlands - now the senior non-executive director on the board of Finance Wales - found that there was permanent finance gap for up to 5,000 UK businesses looking to raise between £2m and £10m in growth capital. Concluding that neither banks nor equity investors had the appetite or interest at the time to fill this gap in the near future, he proposed that a new fund of the order of half a billion pounds should be set up that would address this problem. In the end, it was not the UK Government but the banks that took on the challenge of establishing such a vehicle although it is not exactly what the Rowlands Review envisaged when published. In  2011, five of the UK’s main banking groups - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered - came together to establish the Business Growth Fund (BGF) as an independent investment company with £2.5 billion to invest in fast-growing smaller and medium sized UK businesses that need long-t...

As would be expected, there seems to be considerable emphasis within government policies in both Westminster and Cardiff Bay on encouraging new start-ups and large so-called “anchor” companies. Whilst these are both vitally important to the economy, there remains an oft-neglected sector of our business community that deserves the attention of politicians in London and Wales, namely mid-market firms. That is why the latest research from GE Capital and Warwick Business School on this sector makes fascinating reading for those wishing to influence the growth of our economy. Indeed, this third report on these mid-market firms shows, yet again, how important they are to ensuring the economic recovery of the UK through generating new jobs and developing overseas markets For international comparisons, the study defines mid-market firms as those companies with annual turnover between €20m (£16m) and €1bn (£800m) and their impact is considerable. For example, the research shows that ...

One of the growing trends that I have observed in running the Wales Fast Growth 50 project since 1999 is the increase in the number of medium-sized firms within the list every year. For example, we normally see around a fifth of each list having reached a turnover of more than £10million whilst making a significant contribution to employment growth at the same time. However, there has been concern by various commentators, that medium-sized firms have not historically had the same level of support and attention as their smaller counterparts. This is unfortunate as the CBI has recognised that mid-sized firms can be the engines that unlock the potential of the economy . With just six per cent of medium-sized businesses being responsible for sixty per cent of all the jobs created by the sector, there is certainly scope for greater growth within mid-sized firms. Indeed, if more mid-sized firms could reach their potential, it is estimated that as much as an extra £50bn would be added t...