NEW entrepreneurs across the South are casting off family ties in a trend which could threaten the death of the traditional family business.

Small and medium-sized firms under 10 years old are far less family-oriented than those which have been in business for more than a decade.

Less than half (40 per cent) of the younger firms in the UK regard themselves as family businesses - compared with nearly two thirds (58 per cent) of older firms, reveals the latest Grant Thornton's European Business Survey.

Just five per cent of younger businesses expect to hand on their ventures within the family - against the 22 per cent of older firms which expect succession to continue via the bloodline.

A more fundamental shift in business attitude indicates that the younger firms are more open to allocating business stakes to outside investors and management executives.

The younger firms are less likely to have family members as shareholders (19 per cent), compared with 43 per cent of older firms.

"Younger firms clearly aspire to build capital for their owners more quickly than in the past, rather than building the traditional 'family' business to hand on to the next generation," said Stephen Mills, a partner at Grant Thornton, Poole.

"They are therefore more open to outside finance and outside shareholding if that will help achieve their goal.

"These interesting changes in emotional response mean no less need for smaller firms to address the many issues and challenges they will face - regardless of whether they are family businesses or not," he added.