On the heels of small businesses finishing strong in 2017, a recently released report is projecting further optimism next year.
The 2017 Private Capital Access (PCA) Index report from Dun & Bradstreet and Pepperdine Graziadio Business School showed revenue increases and hope for future growth.
“Given the current state of the U.S. economy, it’s not surprising that small businesses are ending the year on a financially positive note in comparison to a year ago,” Bodhi Ganguli, lead economist at Dun & Bradstreet, said. “However, there are still many economic and politically related variables that are largely unknown at this time in how small businesses will be affected in the upcoming year. This quarter’s report is telling a cautiously optimistic story from the small businesses’ perspective.”
Officials said 58 percent of small businesses, up from 52 percent in Q4 2016, reported a profitable quarter – adding entering 2018, small businesses are anticipating growing revenue 9.1 percent on average, up from 8.7 percent one year ago.
Survey organizers said small businesses report the main purpose for raising capital in the fourth quarter was to refinance existing loans, representing a 14 percent increase compared to 2016 and signaling small businesses may have been taking precautionary actions with respect to another pending federal interest rate increase before the
end of the year.