California small businesses can’t get loans

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California’s small businesses can’t get the credit they need to expand and hire people.

Forty-four percent of almost 2,000 owners queried said they couldn’t access resources needed to grow their operations, said a report released Wednesday by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

With little savings, proprietors are having mixed success raising capital. Instead, they’re concentrating on raising revenues from their current products or services, the Graziadio report said.

‘Recent signs of stronger holiday consumer demand is a great sign for small business, but it is not time to celebrate just yet,’ said John Paglia, lead researcher at the Pepperdine University Private Capital Markets Project and an associate professor of finance. ‘Small businesses will need sustained consumer demand to recover from losses during the Great Recession.’

The credit picture is even tighter in Los Angeles County, the Pepperdine report said. About 6 in 10 business owners surveyed see opportunities for growth next year but three-quarters of them expect credit to be tough to get.

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-- Marc Lifsher