Two out of five small businesses expect to run out of cash with six weeks, according to a new survey.
And one in five small businesses say they will run out of cash within three weeks.
Small business revenues are set to decline by an average 60 per cent in April, with 69 per cent of businesses in leisure and hospitality expecting revenue to totally disappear.
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Three quarters of small business say that coronavirus has already badly affected their business, and this looks set to worsen in April. Eighty per cent say their income will continue to decline this month, with more than one in three (36 per cent) expecting income to crash by more than 90 per cent.
Retail is the second-most badly affected sector, with 38 per cent of small business retailers expecting their income to totally disappear.
Businesses in IT and telecoms expect to be least impacted, with just under a quarter (23 per cent) saying they don’t expect to see any decline in their revenue compared to April last year.
If small business revenue does decline overall by 57 per cent as expected, this equates to a 21 per cent to a 21 per cent reduction in overall UK business turnover.
>See also: Two in five small businesses face closure because of coronavirus
Oliver Prill, chief executive of business banking platform Tide, said: “From the conversations we have had with our 150,000 SME members we knew the situation was very tough, but this data has revealed just how tough it is, and how much harder it is likely to get for small businesses to weather this storm.
“There now needs to be a focus from the government, and other organisations involved in delivering financial support, to do everything possible to get the money into small businesses’ hands as soon as possible.”
Business banking platform Tide and YouGov surveyed over 1,000 owners of small businesses (with between 0 and 49 employees) online between March 21 and April 3.
Further reading
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