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 Barry Jackson, Head of North at BGF, the growth capital investors.
An uncertain economic backdrop has created challenging market conditions in 2024 that will undoubtedly stretch into 2025. However, despite the pressures being felt across the region, it’s encouraging to see that businesses with ambitious management teams and robust growth plans have still been able to grow, raise funding, or execute M&A in the last 12 months.
We anticipate this trend to continue in 2025. While the headwinds remain, those Yorkshire businesses that display resilience and ingenuity will find ways to get deals done in 2025 and reach their growth targets. This also goes beyond the Yorkshire borders, with potential across the North. The North West and the North East have also continued to be active on the deals front in the last 12 months. Combined, they will strengthen the prospects of the wider Northern region.
What is encouraging to see is the breadth of Yorkshire deals being executed – not just in key locations, such as Leeds, but across North, South and East Yorkshire. Our portfolio certainly reflects this spread of activity.
What’s particularly pleasing is how active the region’s tech businesses are – from an acquisition perspective, as well as the growth and levels of innovation being achieved. Unsurprisingly, an increasing number of businesses are also using technology to scale. This is a trend that will only accelerate in the coming 12 months and beyond, as companies look to push boundaries and seek operational efficiencies.
This is particularly pertinent when you take into consideration the raft of tax rises announced in October by the new Labour government, including National Insurance Contribution (NIC) increases. While for some businesses, these changes may prompt a renewed focus on ways to improve productivity through investment in tech/AI and automation; for others, the tax rises represent a significant challenge that will need to be navigated in 2025.
While regional companies have had to contend with ongoing pressures in 2024, many have shown a huge amount of tenacity and ambition, digging deep to create long-term value in their business. That value has been realised not just through M&A activity, but as a result of organic growth and a desire to build national and international brands that are firmly rooted in Yorkshire. In the coming 12 months, notwithstanding economic pressures, we expect good businesses to continue to thrive.
