Nearly half (47%) of brokers the funding provider surveyed identified construction as driving this demand, followed closely by businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors (45%).

More than a third of brokers (36%) also said the manufacturing sector is actively seeking new funding, ahead of professional services — picked by more than two-in-ten commercial finance brokers (21%).

Meanwhile, sectors such as science and technology (6%) and agriculture (7%) are proving to be in less demand for funding support.

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Alongside continued investment needs, the findings reflected an appetite for growth across a number of key sectors, as businesses look to respond to scale up their existing operations and fund significant investments or acquisitions.

“Commercial finance brokers tell us that businesses in these key sectors do not intend to stand still — they are actively looking to secure funding to push ahead with their expansion and investment plans,” said Gary Thompson, sales director at Asset Advantage.

“While this may not be the case for all with softer demand in some sectors, the consensus is that SMEs are moving forward with their growth plans and are looking to build long-term resilience — further proving the need to support commercial brokers with flexible funding options that are sector and asset agnostic and can move at the pace of businesses.”