It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Sue Knight, partner at Grant Thornton UK LLP in the Midlands.
2022 has been dominated by political uncertainty and volatility, combined with geo-political instability in Europe which caused soar-away inflation. This continues to pose profound difficulty for households and businesses alike as the cost of borrowing has increased and the Bank of England looks to put the brakes on inflation.
With inflation at a 41-year high and casting a shadow over the economy, the last few months and the most recent Autumn Statement were always going to be focused on trying to fix the state of the nation’s finances with a package of tax hikes and spending cuts.
That said, all the tax changes in the most recent Autumn Statement were heavily trailed and the emphasis on energy security, infrastructure, and research and development as drivers of growth will be welcomed across the Midlands.
Also in the Statement, many of us were pleased to see the commitment to invest in HS2 rail staying high on the agenda. The acknowledgement that regional devolution is a key lever of growth was good to hear too. We look forward to learning more about the new ‘trailblazing” devolution deals between the Government and key cities. Levelling-up our economy remains very much a work in progress, with many people in our region struggling amid the current cost of living crisis.
2022 was also a busy year for our Corporate Finance team, with very strong investor demand from UK private equity and more recently international corporates for technology, healthcare and tech-enabled business services companies and businesses with strong ESG credentials.
