Middle market companies – those with annual revenues of $10 million to $1 billion – represent 197,000 U.S. businesses and one-third of the private sector GDP, and employ approximately 43 million people. As part of an ongoing quarterly study for The National Center for the Middle Market (a partnership between GE Capital and The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business), RTi surveys 1,000 CEOs, CFOs, and other C-suite executives of America’s middle market companies to accurately reflect on key indicators of economic health.
For two consecutive quarters of 2014, the Middle Market Indicator finds that “Middle market companies are experiencing unabated, solid growth relative to last year.”
Encouraged by renewed revenue growth, middle market leaders are significantly more likely to anticipate continued revenue growth over the ensuing 12 months.
The overall increases in projected revenue growth are supported by a more positive outlook across a broad range of sectors, including services, manufacturing, construction, financial services and healthcare. The outlook is particularly strong among smaller middle market firms with less than $50M in annual revenue.
Some of the other key findings from the study were that:
- Sixty-nine percent of mid-market companies reported strong year over year revenue growth.
- Encouragingly, the rebound of smaller MM firms has continued through the 1st half, after experiencing a performance dip at the end of 2013.
- Despite 2 quarters of solid performance, core middle market firms are more cautious about the prospects for hiring over the coming year.
What’s your company experiencing? What might these trends suggest for your business? As market researchers with current insights in the consumer, financial and healthcare sectors, we can help to uncover the opportunities.