The ICAEW has published the results of a survey of 508 ICAEW members working in commercial businesses on “the impact of the Eurozone crisis on UK business”. The survey is here and an accompanying ICAEW blog post here. Amongst the findings:
“Despite having little confidence that EU leaders will resolve the eurozone crisis in the next 12 months, most of those that would be negatively impacted by a worsening of the crisis have not put any contingency measures in place, nor are they planning to, especially those in SMEs.
Overall, it is large companies with suppliers/customers/ operations/outsource to eurozone countries that are most likely to have contingency plans, either in place or to come. For many of these, this reflects their greater breadth of exposure to the eurozone compared with their counterparts in SMEs. But even among these large businesses with direct contact with the eurozone, almost half have no specific contingency plans.”
52% of those surveyed have taken no action and plan no action in the event that the Eurozone crisis worsens. Of those who have taken action:
- 23% have built cash reserves.
- 19% are converting cash reserves back from Euros to £ or $.
- 15% are reducing numbers of staff.
- 11% are planning an exit strategy from the Eurozone countries.
- 11% are selling assets in Eurozone countries.
Other measures include looking for new suppliers or customers outside Eurozone countries, changing the payment terms or price for Eurozone customers or reducing selling prices for Eurozone customers.
See also: A Eurozone exit: Legal implications for companies and businesses
