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SMALL FIRMS AT RISK FROM SPIRALLING COSTS
RISING costs are crippling UK businesses, a study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) shows today. Cost inflation is stifling the growth of three quarters (74 per cent) of small firms, with over half the country’s small companies fearing for their survival if costs continue to soar. There has been a 23 per cent rise in small business overheads since 2005, the data from CEBR and Make it Cheaper research has calculated. “Rapid cost increases are dampening the entrepreneurial spirit so crucial to economic recovery,” the report said.