A Boon For Conglomerates, A Bust For SMEs

It may feel unfair, but this week’s Data Digest uncovers some great news for big corporates and some bad news for the underdogs.

For instance, Facebook has a new B2B venture that could boost its already flourishing ad profits even further. HP Enterprise surprised investors with better-than-expected earnings following the Hewlett-Packard division, and big banks still hold the vast majority of small business lending business in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, SMEs are facing increasing late payments, more concerned accountants and depressingly low satisfaction rates with online lenders. At least their jobs report was optimistic. PYMNTS breaks down all of the week’s data below.

50 million businesses have Facebook pages, and the social media giant is launching a new initiative to tap into that customer base. Facebook is rolling out the Your Business Story tool, a way for businesses to create videos to promote their companies on Facebook. The company has not revealed how much money it makes from small business advertising, but according to reports, the company says 3 million companies are already paying Facebook to advertise on the network. That represents a 50 percent increase from just a year ago.

70 percent of B2B invoices are paid late across the globe, says new analysis from MarketInvoice. The company published new data on the frequency of late payments across markets, concluding that France and Australia are among the worst offenders. More than 75 percent of invoices are paid late in France, higher than the global average. Meanwhile, Australia ranked worst for the length of time it takes for invoices to get settled; businesses there wait an average of 26.4 days past already lengthy due dates to see their invoices settled, the report found.

58 percent of small accounting firms feel concerned about rising costs, but concerns about the regulatory environment topped their list of main priorities for the next five years. The conclusions came out of the International Federation of Accountants, which released its Global SMP Survey. Researchers surveyed small and mid-sized accountants across the globe and, despite uncovering some pressing concerns, concluded that, overall, accountants’ worries are less acute than they were a year ago. Those worries largely remained the same, however less acute, as 2014’s top concerns were also the regulatory climate and rising costs. Technology developments came in at the third most pressing concern for smaller accountants for the next few years.

15 percent of SMEs that sought lending from an online lender were happy with the experience, concluded a new report from the Federal Reserve, published last week. That’s not very high, especially when compared to the 75 percent of small businesses that reported being satisfied with the experience of seeking financing from a traditional bank. The Fed’s report is a blow to the alternative lending market, which secured massive attention and funding from investors but has since fizzled to a bit of a disappointment. Researchers said 90 percent of small business loan applications land at a traditional FI, while just 20 percent land with an online lender, accounting for businesses sending multiple loan applications at once.

A 14 percent surge in stock prices for HP Enterprise graced the company following its first quarterly earnings report since becoming an independent firm after the Hewlett-Packard split. That surge is the result of a better-than-expected report, which revealed that, despite a 3 percent decline in year-over-year sales, HP Enterprise surpassed expectations, hitting $12.7 billion in revenue for the quarter. It’s a lot better than its brother company, HP, the consumer-facing unit that resulted in the corporate division. HP reported a revenue decline of 12 percent.

7 out of 9 regions in the U.S. saw positive job growth in February, finds Paychex, for its latest monthly small business hiring survey. According to the company’s president and CEO, Martin Mucci, the last three months have seen significant gains, and it’s a great sign: “That basically wipes out all of the decrease we saw in the job growth rate during the last part of 2015,” he said. Researchers pointed to Dallas as the city with the strongest growth, followed by Seattle.