Irish SMEs are demonstrating a strong ability to weather the current storm with improving levels of activity, increasing operational profits and a positive outlook for the rest of the year.
That is according to the latest Linked Finance SME Confidence Index, based on research conducted by Behaviours & Attitudes.
Price pressures do pose a challenge, with 42% of companies charging higher prices in the second quarter of 2022, an increase from 39% of respondents in the first quarter of the year, and up from 23% the same time last year.
Euro zone inflation rate hit a new record high of 9.1% in August and SMEs in Ireland are looking to recover their higher input costs by increasing prices, with only one in three (30%) of SMEs reporting lower profits.
This suggests an ability to maintain margins and pass on input cost increases to customers.
The survey also found that 82% of businesses felt they performed better or line with expectations in the first half of the year: 44% cited performance better or much better than expected, 38% the same, and just 18% of SMEs say performance is worse than expected.
Looking out to the second half of the year, 62% expect performance to be better than the first half, and 66% of businesses report higher or same operating profits in Q2 2022 compared to the same period last year.
Overall the Business Optimism Index score was up slightly to 62 (out of 100) in the quarter, having dipped by seven points from 68 to 61 between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022.
Similar to previous results, the latest index findings suggest recovery is coming slower to micro-SMEs (those with 1-3 employees).
These businesses report the lowest level of increase in operational profits compared to peers. 25% of micro-SME report higher profits, compared to 38% for transitional SMEs and 48% for mid/large SMEs (10+ employees).
Micro businesses also report significantly lower future optimism, with just 38% anticipating a higher performance in Q3 compared to 47% for large SMEs.
The Retail and Wholesale sector has been slowest to recover, with just 31% of businesses reporting stronger performance in Q2. Retailers also appear to be trying the hardest to recover higher input costs, with 64% increasing prices in the quarter versus 42% for all businesses.
There are indications that exporters are under increasing pressure, reporting a declining score of 58 on the overall Confidence Index, versus a higher score of 62 for indigenous businesses. Increasing shipping costs and growing Brexit-related bureaucracy are possible reasons for this divergence.
Niall O'Grady, CEO of Linked Finance, said Irish SMEs have shown themselves to be resilient in the face of the ongoing challenges of rising inflation and the economic ramifications of the war in Ukraine.
"The major challenge for businesses, in particular the micro-SMEs and those operating in the retail sector is to find ways to manage the bite of surging input costs, a problem that is likely to get harder during the winter period when use of expensive energy will rise," Mr O'Grady said.
"We're also seeing some divergence between the experience of SMEs selling within Ireland and those focussed on export, with exporters less optimistic about the outlook and starting to find the pressures of Brexit and rocketing shipping costs potentially outweighing buoyant demand," he added.
