About this article

Read time:

4 minutes

Category:

Research, Sector knowledge

How long will it take for businesses to be viable again post-Covid-19? We partnered with Sapio Research to find out…

Covid-19 has brought a multitude of challenges for companies and many have had to rethink their business strategies to adapt to the current climate. To accommodate the changes and maintain operations, a large number of employers have used the government furlough scheme to help them through these times of uncertainty. Skout recently partnered with Sapio Research to find out how businesses are coping during the pandemic and to gain more insight into their future outlook.

Key findings from the research

Using the Covid-19 UK Business Barometer, a survey created by Sapio Research to monitor the impacts of Covid-19 on UK businesses, we asked 500 business decision makers about their experiences around the ongoing pandemic and found:

Almost two thirds (64%) of businesses struggling as a result of Covid-19 don’t expect to be financially viable again until December or later.

Business turnover has dropped even further since the UK first went into lockdown, with almost two thirds (63%) of organisations experiencing a lower than expected turnover last month, by an average of 50%.

Just 21% of businesses that were experiencing or expecting a reduced turnover this year thought their organisation would be operating at pre-pandemic levels again by September this year, with the majority claiming they don’t expect this to be the case until 2021 or beyond.

Given these long-term viability issues, businesses want more government support. 45% of decision makers said they are already using financial support from the government, while a further 26% plan to. Without furlough, a third of respondents claimed they would have failed within a month of lockdown.

However, despite the extension of the furlough scheme to the end of October, research suggests the government needs to go further, with confidence in the government decreasing as lockdown goes on. When asked how confident they felt in the government for the future (in three months’ time) almost a quarter of respondents (24%) said ‘not at all confident’, compared to just 18% who answered this way in the first wave, which was carried out between 9th and 14th of April.

The research also indicated that businesses expect Brexit to hinder the recovery of the UK economy compared to other nations, with 63% claiming that it would have a negative impact. While half of those with international clients said they expect international markets to recover by March 2021, just 41% expect the same for the UK.

What do the experts say?

Based on our findings, we asked senior business professionals about the impacts they’ve experienced as a result of Covid-19. Here’s what they said:

Andy Hogg, director of Sevenoaks pub and restaurant, The Bricklayers Arms

“As the owner of a pub with 33 staff, there’s no way we would have been able to pay them without the furlough scheme, which was one of the key sources of stress for me at the beginning of lockdown.”

Vincent Efferoth, managing director at alcoholic tea producer, NOVELTEA

“As we focus primarily on the UK, German and Chinese markets, we moved into crisis mode on 1st of March. Now we’ve started to think about longer-term mitigations as well as embracing ‘the new normal’ and looking for growth opportunities.”

Adam Burtt-Jones, co-founder at workplace design consultancy, Burtt-Jones & Brewer

“We experienced a drop in workload by around 60-70% initially when we went into lockdown, but the furlough scheme gave us significantly greater financial security. Where clients paused projects, it enabled us to essentially pause our staff.

“Moving forward, we’re going to need to be more multi-skilled and versatile. However, we do realise that there’s opportunity as well as challenge. If we navigate this carefully and cleverly, we’ll be in a good place. I’d almost be disappointed if we went exactly back to the way we were before!”

Further waves of the Covid-19 UK Business Barometer Survey will be conducted and released throughout July and a full set of findings can be found here. Also, keep your eye out on our blog section for further analysis on the results.

About this article

Read time:

4 minutes

Category:

Research, Sector knowledge

Five tech trends B2B marketers need to be aware of in 2025

The top five FinTech publications your business should know about

Browse more blog posts

A visual image showcases tech trends for B2B marketers. The graphic displays icons signaling tech trends such as AI.
Posted on
byJames Weaver
Things change quickly in the world of B2B marketing. With every ‘eureka!’ moment for new and disruptive technologies that herald to change the game, staying ahead of the curve is vitally important. Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been used by businesses for decades, today the technology is plastered across the news agenda. There’s also a swathe of other transformative technologies...
An image of a woman reading a business, financial and fintech newspaper
Posted on
byIsobelle Yoxall
It’s a new year for your FinTech business, and there’s big news on the horizon: a new product launch, exciting partnerships, or innovative features to announce. This makes for the perfect time to share your story with the media. Or perhaps you are just seeking fresh opportunities to make a new impact. Whatever the reason, there’s no better time to...
Fintech megatrends featured image - 2025
Posted on
byRob Skinner
Woah fintech, slow down! Of course, that is never really going to happen – so PR and marketing professionals, how are you going to keep up? The fintech landscape is evolving at lightning speed, driven by groundbreaking innovations and shifting consumer expectations. Projections show that the market could reach a size of £1.2 trillion by 2030. To put that into...
A graphic displaying five stars with a finger pointing to the brightest star, reflecting the ambition to be a premium brand
Posted on
byClaire Lamb
Building a premium brand doesn’t require a limitless marketing budget. In fact, some of the world’s most respected B2B brands have built their reputations through strategic, cost-effective marketing and PR, rather than block busting spend.   What do I mean by quality brand? I’m referring to brands that position themselves as delivering a high quality product or service, which is often...
An image of the Skout team at the 2024 Christmas party
Posted on
byRob Skinner
It’s common to hear people say, “Hasn’t this year gone quickly?” But this time, when I reached into the loft, it seemed like the fairy lights were still warm in their box! 2024 has been a busy year for me personally, so it’s perhaps no surprise that it has flown by. Between my wife and me becoming empty nesters, moving to...
A collection of headlines showing influential people who influenced the news agenda throughout 2024
Posted on
byRebecca Brown
2024 has certainly been a big year for the news agenda. From a change of government in the UK to the US presidential election race. CrowdStrike causing a mass IT outage due to a faulty update. Climate disasters such as Hurricane Milton and the flooding in Valencia. The return of Celine Dion at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. And...
Measuring tool being used by person to measure words on image
Posted on
byClaire James
Have you ever been asked to demonstrate the value of your marketing budget to leaders within your business? You’re not alone. According to LinkedIn’s B2B Benchmark report, 76% of B2B marketers feel under pressure to prove return-on-investment in the short term while nearly half cite ROI as the most important metric when reporting to the CEO, CFO and other board...
A laptop showing imagery associated with market trends reports
Posted on
byHonor Williamson
Staying ahead of trends and understanding which stories are resonating with target audiences is integral to great PR. Given the volume of noise in today’s media, making use of tools can help reveal patterns, highlight relevant topics, and guide your content strategy. This is where the market trends report can be a real game-changer. Market trends reports provide insights into...
X The Guardian
Posted on
byClaire Lamb
The Guardian announced last week that it will stop posting on X. According to the newspaper, the “benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives.” It went onto say that “this is something we have been considering for a while given the often-disturbing content promoted or found on the platform.”  It’s clear that X has become a...
Tape / measurement visual
Posted on
byJack Snell
In today’s fast-paced business environment, every penny counts, especially whilst businesses are under immense pressure to justify every line of their balance sheets. This is where the important of measuring your PR activities comes into play. At Skout, we believe that effective measurement is the key to demonstrating a tangible return on investment in your PR efforts. We recently launched...

Get in touch

Skout
11 Market Place
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK10 1EB
Send us a message
Name(Required)

Send us a message