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North East firms are marking the anniversary of the first national lockdown with a range of challenges, despite increasing confidence in some areas.

The results of the latest economic survey by the North East England Chamber of Commerce show that cashflow, 海角视频 and export sales, funding and supply chain issues are all weighing on companies in the region.

Problems are particularly hard in sectors like retail and hospitality, the survey has found, while the impact of Brexit and disruption to supply chains due to the new EU trading arrangements were cited as barriers to businesses.

Figures compiled by the Chamber show that, at the height of the first lockdown, more than 190,000 people in the region were on furlough as companies relied on Government support to keep going.

More than 45,000 companies sought Government loans - sharing almost 拢1.75bn. Hundreds of companies went bust, and of those that have survived, more than 40% of firms in the North East have no or less than three months of cash reserves.

Chamber president Lesley Moody said: 鈥淭hese survey results give us the first picture of what the past year has done to our businesses. From the initial, catastrophic economic shock we saw in the second quarter, through months of uncertainty and ever-changing restrictions, firms in the North East have been through a lot.

鈥淭he data from the start of the year shows that overall confidence, while still very low, is improving. Yet this masks enormous disparities between those sectors that have been able to return to something akin to normality and those who remain under the tightest restrictions.

鈥淭hese results show that businesses foresee a much better year ahead than the one they鈥檝e just endured. However, factors beyond Covid also hinder our firms, as the impact of Brexit on our export performance shows.

鈥淲e must not allow this positivity to hide the challenge that now faces us. 鈥楲evelling up鈥� has become more important than ever. Our region has been hit hard and must be supported to recover and become more resilient.鈥�

The Chamber鈥檚 quarterly survey, which is carried out in conjunction with Durham University Business School, found that businesses that have adapted over the last year have done so by embracing online technologies and drawing on strong relationships with existing customers and suppliers.

The survey also highlighted the pandemic has altered the working lives of most employees, with staff commonly reported to be willing to work in different ways to ensure their employer鈥檚 survival.

Nationally, around 1.5m businesses have taken out a bounce-back loan of up to 拢50,000 each, with around one in four saying they have spent the money already.

Companies are due to start making their first repayments in May, but as the pandemic dragged on for longer than expected, Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave the companies more options on how to repay their loans.

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds says that around 750,000 businesses in the 海角视频 have low or no confidence that they might survive three months and has called for a system of loan repayments that mirror student loans. This would mean that a company is only asked to repay its loans when it starts to make a profit again.

She said: 鈥淔orcing businesses to start making debt repayments before they are back on their feet will squeeze the amount they have to invest, to grow and take on new staff. For some, it could mean going to the wall.

鈥淗undreds of thousands of businesses across the country are on a knife-edge. If they falter or fail, it鈥檚 not just a tragedy for the owners who lose their livelihoods and the staff who lose their jobs 鈥� it will damage the recovery and hold us all back.鈥�