Small businesses defy recession with growth plans

Its survey of 3,000 small businesses found many were not content to merely ride out the recession with younger companies in particular planning to expand. Aside from the 49% who said they had expansion plans in place for the next 12 months, a further 34% were planning to stay the same or consolidate with only a small fraction looking to downsize. Steve Cooper, managing director of Barclays Local Business, says: "There are good reasons to expand at the right time. Companies with growth plans could be taking advantage of a completely different competitive landscape, where key competitor...