Update on how 10 small businesses are weathering recession

January was a difficult month for BPL Solicitors, one of the 10 small firms that the BBC website is following throughout the recession. With the practice specialising in property law, it has been particularly affected by the downturn in the housing market. Last month it told staff it will likely have to make some redundancies. HMS Joinery is also dependent on the housing market and so business is falling – its owner Harry Murray says his confidence in the business is only 3 out of 10, down from 4 out of 10 in December. These two businesses are likely to find that the latest housing market figures, to be released later today, will not bring them any relief.

Yet other panel members say they are holding up well. The hotel on the Isle of Wight had a good start to the year with increased bookings through January. The web design business has found that, while public sector clients seem unaffected so far, smaller private companies have continued to tighten their belts. “The number of leads has gone up, but we’ve noticed that we are getting more enquiries about our most cost effective website management solutions, as they allow clients to update their websites themselves and save some of the ongoing overheads. There is also still a steady flow of businesses investigating e-commerce as an alternative to costly retail premises. Thanks to a flexibly skilled team we’ve avoided the need to make any redundancies, but every week we hear of bigger agencies who have laid off staff.” – so the smaller employer with staff who are used to covering a range of roles may react more flexibly than the larger organisation where staff are more specialised.

Dentanurse, producing dental products for dentists and the public, is looking at export markets to take advantage of the weaker pound, the Irish clock-maker has also found overseas sales encouraging, a confectionery factory in Wales recorded sales 7% higher than a year ago and Sheppy’s cider in Somerset have spent time looking at packaging and presentation, with sales from the farm shop and off farm exceeding expectations.

Many of the major concerns that these small businesses express remain centred around the banks. Carl Bradley who runs a computer shop says “my banks are pressuring me to make more money or I will lose my services or the rate that I pay will go up. All it is going to take is one bank to start lending and they will all follow or else lose out - especially if we all moved to that bank.”