Small Business Survey Scotland: 2024-2025

Key points for SMEs with employees and a presence in Scotland

• Overall, 40 per cent of SME employers engaged in at least one type of innovation – either goods, services or process innovation (broadly in line with last year’s figure)
• 12 per cent of SME employers exported goods or services outside of the UK in the previous 12 months
• 22 per cent of SME employers directly imported from overseas; an increase on the 13 per cent figure from last year
• Of these, 51 per cent of SME importers were importing goods or services from EU and non-EU. 34 per cent of SME importers were importing from the EU only and 16 per cent from non-EU countries only
• 16 per cent of SME employers were women-led in 2024-2025 (business with the majority of the combined total number of owners, partners and directors being female), which is a decrease from 20 per cent in 2023-2024
• 3 per cent were minority ethnic group led (defined as a business with the majority of the combined total number of owners, partners and directors being of an ethnic minority background)
• 1 per cent were led by a disabled person or people (defined as a business with the majority of the combined total number of owners, partners and directors having a disability) (new question for this report)
• Of all SME employers that had been trading for at least one year, 34 per cent increased their turnover over the previous year, compared to 44 per cent reported in 2023-24. 36 per cent had approximately the same turnover and 25 per cent had lower turnover
• 71 per cent of SME employers in Scotland aimed to grow sales over the next three years, a decrease from 76 per cent reported in 2023-24
• In 2024-25, 17 per cent of SME employers in Scotland installed some kind of energy efficiency measure in the prior year, a decrease from 25 per cent in 2023-2024