Middle market companies report continued historic growth rates

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Halfway through 2022, middle market companies report continued historic growth rates over the past year. Although confidence in the global, national and local economic outlook has dropped significantly over the last six months, the outlook for future growth remains optimistic.

Data from the 2022 Mid-Year Middle Market Indicator, released today by the National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM), reveals that the year-over-year revenue growth throughout the middle market remains strong at 12.2%, consistent with 12.3% reported in December 2021. Nearly four out of five middle market companies reported revenue growth from a year ago with over half of these firms experiencing growth of 10% or more. Record-high employment growth experienced in 2021 continued into 2022 with 58% of middle market companies increasing the size of their workforce.

“In line with what was observed at the end of 2021, the middle market continues to see historically unprecedented growth rates,” said NCMM Managing Director Doug Farren. “The recovery we started to see a year ago has sustained, indicating that the middle market sector has largely rebounded from the lows that came along with the height of the pandemic.”

Although confidence in the global economy has dipped 11% compared to six months ago, presumably due to macro-economic forces such as inflation, rising interest rates and the ongoing war in eastern Europe, the outlook for revenue growth and employment growth remains strong at 57% and 59%, respectively.

While the outlook remains largely positive for middle market firms, there are several issues that continue to impact companies and could threaten long-term performance. Inflation, supply chain disruptions and maintaining adequate workforces top the list of the biggest concerns for middle market companies. Of the 39% of companies reporting that inflation has negatively impacted their company, 62% say they have raised their prices or rates in response. Supply chain constraints have directly impacted 55% of companies, up from 47% six months ago. The retail industry’s supply chain has seen the largest increase in disruption, up 14%. Lastly, one in four middle market companies reported that their workforce size is insufficient for current market conditions, with larger revenue firms and the healthcare industry most likely to be impacted by workforce shortages.

“The middle market has proven resilient time and again in the face of many uncontrollable factors,” Farren said. “The optimistic outlook for continued growth is a positive sign that resilience within middle market companies will remain strong.”

Additional survey data and infographics, including in-depth looks at regional variations, hiring/talent acquisition efforts and other business concerns among middle market companies, can be found at http://www.middlemarketcenter.org.

About the Middle Market Indicator (MMI)

The MMI, which was created in 2012, surveys 1,000 executives (CEOs, CFOs and other financial decision makers) from the middle market to examine topics related to business capabilities, performance, growth drivers and economic outlook among other topics. The 2022 Mid-Year MMI was fielded in June 2022. It is weighted to accurately reflect the size, industry-wide and geographic distribution of this sector, which includes companies ranging from $10 million to $1 billion in annual revenue. The survey is conducted by RTi Research on behalf of the National Center for the Middle Market.