Midsized companies play an essential role in the UK economy. Firms with between £10 million ($13.5m) and £500m ($670m) in turnover make up less than one percent of UK companies, but they account for more than 40 percent of private sector revenues.
Over the past few years, they have faced an increasingly challenging operating environment. “Uncertainty has made growth harder to navigate,” says Gail Booker, regional director, HSBC Corporate Banking, North, Scotland and Northern Ireland. “Even so, the mid-market continues to show real determination—adapting quickly to change and staying focused on the opportunities ahead.” Indeed, 80 percent of midsized UK companies intended to invest in growth in 2026.
So, as they look to expand their businesses in a world where change is the only constant, what strategies are smart firms putting into action?
AI adoption is accelerating. Research conducted by the UK’s Centre for Economics and Business Research for HSBC found that just over a third of midsized businesses were using AI two years ago; by 2025, that figure had risen to 55 percent.
As usage becomes table stakes, the differentiator is return on investment: one recent survey reports that only six percent of firms are seeing significant impact on operating profit. Businesses that are enjoying gains tend to be those that have moved beyond simple “tool access”, instead embedding AI deeply and reimagining processes around the technology. “They’re identifying real pain points, piloting solutions, and then scaling what works,” says Booker.
Common use cases include triaging customer queries and executing document-heavy finance and operations tasks such as invoice processing and exception handling.
Roland Emmans, head of technology sector and growth lending at HSBC UK, says that a good AI strategy avoids treating the technology as a standalone initiative. Instead of asking “How do we use AI?”, start with the day-to-day pain points that waste time and capacity, and then apply AI to remove friction and improve outcomes. “The point isn’t AI in isolation; it’s AI as a practical tool to make the business run better.”
There’s meaningful upside to be had for businesses still early in this journey. HSBC research suggests an average corporate that adopts AI deeply, in ways that materially improve performance, could generate an extra £4.5m ($6m) revenue within four years.
As resilience rises up the agenda, businesses are looking tactically to new markets less affected by disruption. In 2025, 70 percent of scale-ups were focused on global expansion.
For UK scale-ups, the EU remains a priority market, while focus on the US is decreasing, though still prominent. One major growth opportunity highlighted by Joe Windle, head of structured trade at HSBC UK, is India, thanks to the UK-India Trade Deal that came into force in July. The UK government projects that the deal could result in an additional £15.7bn ($21bn) of UK exports to India. “It’s too big an opportunity to ignore,” says Windle.
International expansion is now such an important growth lever, companies are realising it’s smart to plan for it much earlier in their life cycle. One example is EOS IT Solutions. The Northern Ireland-based tech and IT services company identified international opportunities early on in its development and, in 2024, secured $100m ($134m) in credit from HSBC, guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), to act on those. This has been key to its strong performance. The business now operates in 175 countries, with 28 trading entities, and nine global offices.
Confidence in fundraising and financing is returning. Richard Lewis, managing director and head of debt finance origination at HSBC UK, notes that corporate lending increased significantly from 2024 to 2025, and acquisition-related financing gained momentum. Looking forward, 70 percent of UK private equity firms plan to increase their investment levels in 2026.
What’s different today is how business leaders are thinking about capital. “Rather than treating funding as a one-off event, corporates are planning capital structure as a pillar of the growth plan,” says Lewis. “They’re wargaming scenarios, mapping needs over multiple years, and considering a wider range of options.” Lewis points to increased interest in debt financing, and says that businesses are securing that via increasingly diverse routes such as private credit alongside standard bank loans.
Businesses are also recognizing they may benefit from different pools of capital at different moments. As Lewis puts it, they are moving “back and forth” through capital options as needs evolve.
Read our full report on fast-growth UK businesses, covering the current situation, future outlook and strategies for growth:
