Cost of doing business rising, sustainability remains a focus: Metro Finance shares findings of recent business survey

Metro Finance, one of Australia’s leading independent non-bank lenders for asset finance, has followed on from its recent consumer survey findings, sharing responses from Australian businesses and revealing a range of impacts as cost of living pressures continue to bite consumer spending. 

The business survey, responded to by 1,000 Australian employed and self-employed workers, indicates a spread of both economic optimism and belt-tightening. 

When it came to business spending, respondents earmarked two primary costs for their own business or their employer’s in 2025: 39.9 per cent cited human resources, which includes training and benefits programs, as a key cost for the year ahead, while 42.3 identified supplier costs of producing goods and services being the main consideration. 

Despite the expectation that goods and services will cost more in 2025 (a sentiment shared with recent respondents of Metro’s consumer survey), 66.4 per cent of respondents did not think their business would seek financing in 2025. This figure, however, contrasts with the overwhelming majority of those surveyed who remain confident of securing business finance if needed, at 72.1 per cent. 

42.3 per cent of respondents also suspected the need to improve business cashflow would be the main motivator to seek financing in 2025. 

Metro Finance CEO, David Albest, commented on the latest trends in the business survey. 

“As we saw recently with the results of Metro’s 2025 consumer survey, there is a general sense of the market cautiousness, as businesses and their customers both take a hard look at their budgets, and make prudent decisions based on some uncertain market conditions,” David said. 

From an operational point-of-view, increasing revenue (32.1 per cent), improving cashflow (29.7 per cent) and reducing debt (27 per cent) were the primary business goals for FY25, with respondents’ businesses reacting to inflation, higher interest rates and slower consumer spending. 38.7 per cent of all respondents also acknowledged that their business was cutting costs in a bid to improve net profit. 

Interestingly, while saving costs and conserving budgets were recurrent themes with those surveyed, sustainability and initiatives to tackle waste and energy consumption are appearing to be adopted by businesses around the country.

39.6 per cent identified recycling as a way businesses were including sustainability in their operations, while 27.6 per cent flagged solar energy technology. 

19.6 per cent of survey respondents also acknowledged low or zero emission vehicles as a feature of businesses’ sustainability efforts.

David Hall, National Novated Manager at Metro, commented on the proliferation of low and zero emission vehicles being provided to employees through salary packaging. 

“Metro’s novated leasing offering is contuinuing to experience growth, with over 18,000 cars, of which 11,000 were low or zero-emission vehicles, being leased by employees through their employers in 2024,” David explained. 

“What we’re seeing from a market perspective is novated leasing is an increasingly popular way for businesses to retain staff and incentivise high-performers, while at the same time helping employees’ household budgets save money by reducing their tax liability and providing consistency and predictability in their repayments. At a time of market volatility, this can been extremely beneficial for both sides of the fence,” David continued. 

Investing in sustainability, either by adopting new processes and initiatives, or updating business assets, is also generating positive residual benefits for businesses in 2025: 35.7 per cent of respondents believed their business was well-respected in the community because of its sustainability efforts. 

26.4 per cent cited customers seeing sustainable business as industry leaders, with 19.9 per cent also attributing greater B2B engagement because of their respective company’s sustainability initiatives. 16.4 per cent, however, believed that customers saw sustainable businesses as being more expensive than competitors. 

Recently, Metro’s MetroEco green lending program received an additional $50 million funding commitment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) – this new investment doubles the CEFC’s total commitment to $100 million, highlighting the strong demand from businesses ready to embrace sustainability in a number of different ways.

Since launching MetroEco in July 2024, Metro has supported over 4,000 electric vehicles hit the road across 26 different brands, along with funding energy-efficient equipment and battery technology — all made possible with competitive interest discounts for eligible green assets. 

As a partner of Greenfleet, the Metro business offset 2,134 tonnes of carbon in 2024, and contributed $49,968 to sustainability efforts such as revegetating 547 hectares of land which included 460 hectares of protected koala habitat. Since joining Greenfleet in 2023, Metro has offset 4,015 tonnes of carbon, and contributed $80,815. 

Following the trends: consumers watch their pennies

As businesses take a conservative approach to FY25, consumers are no-doubt influencing the current trend of belt-tightening; also identified in Metro’s Australia-wide consumer survey, which also saw 1,000 respondents take part.

Key findings of the Metro consumer survey (Jan 2025):

– 44 per cent of all respondents shop around for the best price on fuel, and will only buy on days where it is historically lower at the bowser 

– 48.9 per cent of households surveyed said that saving money on energy utilities would be their main interest in upgrading their home’s technology

– 41.3 per cent said they would not currently purchase an electric vehicle (EV), with 41.5 per cent claiming that they do not consider EVs mobility to be durable, regardless of brand 

– 29 per cent, however, indicated they would opt for an EV made by an established mainstream brand already selling internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the market 

– 66.2 per cent said they would consider either a plug-in or mild hybrid for their next vehicle 

– 33.4 per cent, would like to save as much as possible and would consider a loan on an electric vehicle if the rate was cheaper 

– 52.9 per cent cited concerns over petrol prices as being a key motivator for a hybrid vehicle purchase 

– 33.7 per cent have recently established a new household budget 

– 43.7 per cent said they would, or have already switched brands to more affordable options

This Press Release was also published on VRITIMES