Some European Companies are Optimistic about Revenue Growth, States Timetric

25 Oct 2012 • by Natalie Aster

‘Slow economic growth’ is considered the most critical economic concern across Europe, as indicated by 79% of the survey’s respondents. In addition, ‘regulations and laws’, ‘political instability’ and ‘cost of credit’ are also considered key economic concerns.

According to 47% of respondents, ‘no change’ was observed in their company’s export volumes in 2011, while 21% indicated some level of decrease and 18% identified an increase. In contrast, the percentage of respondents who expect a decrease in export volumes increased to 37% in 2012 and then decreased to 32% in 2013, indicating that export volumes would decrease in 2012 in comparison to 2011. The situation is expected to show slight improvement in 2013.

According to the survey results, companies across Europe, regardless of business sector, have been impacted by the eurozone crisis. A total of 53% of the respondents claim to have experienced some negative impact as a result of the crisis while 31% claimed to have ‘significant negative impact’.

‘Overhead cuts’ and ‘rightsizing workforce’ are the most important business strategies adopted by companies, as noted by 51% and 44% of respective respondents. Additionally, a total of 40% of respondents consider ‘cost reduction through production optimization’ as the second-most important strategy.

‘Improving operational efficiency’, the need to introduce ‘new products and services’ and the need to ‘expand in existing markets’ are considered top priorities for European companies. A notable 56% of respondents consider ‘improving operational efficiency’ to be an important factor.

Companies need to expand in order to keep their growth and revenue plans intact. Although companies are staying away from expansion in high-debt eurozone countries, some companies are willing to take risks and are subsequently expanding in safer European countries.

Of all the respondents 44% are ‘neutral’ regarding revenue growth, while 29% are ‘less optimistic’ about revenue growth. This opinion could have been driven by the negative reports from leading industries such as automobile, banking and travel and tourism.

In total, 27% of respondents showed optimism regarding revenue growth which could be driven by the cruise and chemicals industries, which posted strong results during the global financial crisis.

The new report "European Survey 2012 – CEO Perspective: The Eurozone Crisis, Its Effect on Businesses and Possible Countermeasures" by Timetric states that a total of 74% of survey respondents indicated that ‘energy costs’ have increased in Europe during the last 12 months. Moreover, 55% expect energy prices to increase in the next 12 months. Europe’s dependence on imported oil and natural gas has led to an increase in energy costs, which are a matter of concern particularly for energy-intensive industries such as construction and steel.

Report Details:

European Survey 2012 – CEO Perspective: The Eurozone Crisis, Its Effect on Businesses and Possible Countermeasures
Published: October, 2012
Pages: 65
Price: US$ 995,00

More information can be found in the report “European Survey 2012 – CEO Perspective: The Eurozone Crisis, Its Effect on Businesses and Possible Countermeasures” by Timetric.

To order the report or ask for sample pages contact [email protected]

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