European CEOs View the U.K. as Target for Growth

A new PwC report shows that Europe’s chief executives are more optimistic about the U.K. compared to the last five years. Chief executives are from European countries such as France, Germany, and Italy.

Despite the Brexit uncertainties, the United Kingdom has more attractive growth prospects now as it was in 2015. PWC revealed this in its annual Global CEI Survey. It was published at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Monday.

According to the report, several CEOs in Germany view the U.K. as among their top 3 growth targets. The proportion of CEOs interested in the U.K. has doubled from 6% in 2019 to 13% in 2020.

The proportion grew even more in France and Italy.

The figure is 23% in France and 14% in Italy- up 3% from last year.

Bob Moritz spoke to CNBC’s Karen Tso in Davos, saying U.K. consumers were more confident.

Bob is the chair of PwC International.

“When you look at the U.K. specifically, there is less pessimism – a good trend, especially for the U.K. with all the pessimism that they experienced versus last year. You have increased consumer confidence,” Moritz said.

He also added that CEOs still felt confident, even though PWC surveyed before the U.K.’s general election in Dec.

Consumer confidence actions include mergers and acquisitions, capital expenditure, digital transformation and technology, and internal investment on training, Moritz added.

The US chief executives confident in the UK economy

CEO’s in the U.S. are also more optimistic about the U.K., with 20% viewing the country as a more attractive growth target. The confidence level grew by 4% in 2019.

More Australian CEOs see the U.K. as a growth target growing by 6% to 19%. Japan CEO confidence grew to 11.5% up by 2.5%

However, CEOs in India, China, and Canada view the UK as marginally less important to them.

Kevin Ellis said the U.K.s time zone and location was an advantage, also a fair and trusted place to do business.

Kevin Ellis is the chair and senior partner at PwC U.K.

“Developing infrastructure and skills will enhance the U.K.’s position and ensure its increased popularity among CEOs translates to more inbound business and investment. Likewise, maintaining an open economy and our deep connections with trading nations is crucial,” Ellis stated to CNBC.

PwC surveyed 3,501 chief executives in 83 regions in September and October 2019 for its Annual Global CEO Survey.