Richard Olsen, the managing director of Pegasus Funding Solutions, based in Rutland, believes that 2021 will be a year when businesses focus on building their resilience through ingenuity, ensuring their enterprises are agile, being highly customer-focused and forward-thinking.

Richard highlights his thoughts below, including his belief that 2021 will be a year when businesses focus on building their resilience through ingenuity, agility, innovation and customer-centric thinking.

M&A

He said: “We are seeing a big rise in M&A activity – a lot of companies are bolting on acquisitions that they believe will help them to consolidate, build strength and resilience, so that they have the best chance of survival in the longer term when the bounce comes.

While some firms that have been hard-hit by Covid-19-related issues, there will be buyers for some of these, depending on whether the business has a value (whether that is brand, customer base or IP) which can be salvaged. Some sectors have flourished and some companies have flourished by pivoting their business.”

Government loans

“It has been reported that state loans have been used for non-business purposes, such as buying supercars and houses, and this will ramp up calls for those companies to be investigated. There have also been cases where companies have exaggerated turnover to obtain loans. Given this is fraud, I think we could see a rise in the number of business leaders sent to jail.

All this will be incredibly tough on honest firms, with solid business plans that are in urgent need of finance. Lenders will be increasingly cautious, demanding even more onerous documentation and much more detailed information than many businesses immediately have to hand.

I don’t think the government will extend the schemes and I don’t think they should as we are just creating a false situation that we will have to pay for through increased taxes.”

EU-transition

“Once the EU-transition comes to an end on 31 December, PR, marketing and advertising will take on a new level of importance. Communication is going to be massively important. As is reputation. It is essential that companies not only understand who their customers are and how their needs may be changing – they must also devise strategies to keep existing customers loyal by communicating with them effectively and empathetically.

I also think new entities will be established in the UK by foreign-owned businesses and vice versa as both sides need to find new ways of doing business within the new customs environments. While everyone is very focused on the new trade environment, there will also be changes to services. Then we have a whole new immigration system that will fundamentally change how we can bring in workers from abroad; the minimum for skilled workers is £20,480 with more points awarded if this figure is over £25,600. Businesses will need to become a licensed sponsor to employ overseas workers. This will have an enormous impact on industries that depend on migrant workers, such as agriculture, construction, social care and food manufacturing.”

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