European chief financial officers are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about prospects for their companies this year, led by CFOs in Spain and Norway, according to a study by Deloitte.
A third of the CFOs surveyed say they are more optimistic than last year while only 18 percent say they are not optimistic. A net 51 percent of CFOs also say they expect their companies’ revenue to improve in the next 12 months, while 21 percent say operating margins will likely improve. This is despite more than half (a net 55 percent) saying their businesses face a high degree of uncertainty and almost a quarter (a net 23 percent) adding that now is not a good time to be taking on more risks.
Cost controls are one of the top two concerns for CFOs in 11 out of the 12 countries included in the survey, and the most common risks mentioned are geopolitical, increases in regulation and lower demand.
CFOs in Spain are the most positive, with a net 67 percent saying they are optimistic, followed by those in Finland, at a net 34 percent, and the Netherlands with a net 33 percent. Optimism is lowest in Switzerland, with a net balance of minus 58 percent, followed by Norway at minus 25 percent and France at minus 11 percent. Overall, levels of optimism in the eurozone are higher, at a net 20 percent, than outside it, at 4 percent.
‘CFOs are still demonstrating caution in their business strategies, prioritizing cost-cutting and control, a trend we have observed for many years and which now looks to be continuing in 2015,’ says Michael Grampp, head of the European CFO survey and chief economist for Deloitte in Switzerland. ‘This is most evident in non-eurozone areas where country-specific events, such as the removal of the currency floor in Switzerland, are curbing business optimism.’
