UK businesses expect the coming year to prove even tougher than 2024, according to new research from business spend management platform Pleo.

More than half of UK businesses (56 per cent) expect 2025 to be tougher than the last year, according to a Pleo study of 3,250 finance leaders across Europe. Meanwhile, around two in five (37 per cent) UK leaders lack confidence in their business’s current level of financial agility, revealing a worrying trend that many companies are unprepared to face the economic difficulties they anticipate.

The UK’s economic outlook remains uncertain in 2025, and 76 per cent of UK finance leaders say that stress-testing their business’s financial health has never been more important. Additionally, 75 per cent say that financial decisions now have to be made faster than ever before. This has created a situation where the majority (76 per cent) of UK businesses say there is more pressure on financial decision-makers than ever before.

Fifty-one per cent of finance leaders say they’re unable to focus on mission-critical work because of time-consuming, manual treasury tasks. In fact, Pleo suggests around 163 working days a year are wasted on manual treasury tasks, highlighting the growing importance of cash management solutions.

Recognising a growing need for better financial visibility and control, Pleo is expanding into the treasury space by launching a new cash management solution. The suite of treasury tools will be rolled out throughout this year, starting with a financial dashboard giving businesses a consolidated overview of their funds.

The platform has also revealed its plans to launch new multi-currency accounts and FX trades, automation for cash management and monitoring, configurable alerts, sub-accounts and treasury accounts generating yield. New and existing customers will be invited to gain early access to these tools during the first half of 2025.

Overcoming financial visibility challenges

Overall, 73 per cent of UK finance leaders believe having a single overview of all accounts, and currencies is the most important factor for full financial visibility. Despite this fact, the average finance team uses seven tools to manage their business’s finances – 40 per cent of which don’t integrate or have poor integration.

Because of this, 37 per cent of UK businesses are not confident they have enough visibility to make informed decisions and remain reactive to key financial events.

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Source : https://thefintechtimes.com/uk-businesses-unprepared-for-economic-difficulties-in-2025-as-cash-flow-visibility-remains-low/