Credit crunch: entrepreneurs look to snap up struggling rivals

The outlook may be gloomy, but some entrepreneurs expect to take advantage of struggling rivals, new research has suggested.

Only 61% of entrepreneurs said they were feeling positive about the next 12 months, compared to 86% a year ago, research by the Tenon Forum found.

However, 47% said they were upbeat and saw opportunities for business expansion in the economic downturn.

Some 51% said they were looking to win clients from competitors. And over one quarter (26%) said they could see an opportunity to buy rival businesses suffering from the conditions of the credit crunch.

The research showed that entrepreneurs in London (53%) saw the most potential opportunities for expansion, followed by 47% in the East of England and 46% in the East Midlands and South West respectively.

Other research, by the Confederation of British Industry and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, recently found that 9 out of 10 firms (91%) think it will take more than six months for the credit crunch to ease.

The Financial Services Survey also indicated that business volume trends were the weakest since March 1991. In the three months to June, 55% of firms said they had decreased, with only 20% saying they had risen.