This was one of the findings of the Aldermore Future Attitudes report, which surveyed over 1,000 senior business decision-makers across the UK and found that on average UK SMEs were missing out on income worth £77,651 per year.

Aldermore revealed that the businesses with between 50 and 249 employees were the worst hit with 32% saying they had been significantly impacted by not having access to the funding they needed.

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“With more than two-fifths of SMEs saying that their key business priority for 2017 is achieving business growth, it is frustrating to see that so many firms are missing out on business opportunities due to a lack of appropriate funding,” said Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director of business finance at Aldermore.

“In our experience, UK SMEs have retained their ambitions to grow despite the uncertain economic environment, so it is vital that the finance industry gives them every chance to succeed.”

When asked what proportion of their business was financed by different forms of funding, SMEs revealed that 18% came from traditional bank lending, including overdrafts, while 14% was provided by alternative finance, such as asset and invoice finance.

“As a lender focused on supporting SMEs of all shapes and sizes, we also want to educate businesses about other more bespoke, flexible and cost-efficient funding options available to them, such as asset finance and invoice finance,” Carl concluded.