Of the 210 C-level executives who were polled, 14% anticipate the Brexit-related drop in profits will surpass 5%.
And the number of UK companies who believe their profitability will be negatively impacted by the UK’s exit from the EU has risen to 76%.
The respondents to the survey commissioned by Hogan Lovells were split evenly across Britain, France, Germany, the US, China, Japan and ‘other EU’ and represent companies with at least $1bn in turnover in sectors, including automotive, industrials, energy, financial services and technology.
Respondents overwhelmingly viewed Brexit as a threat to the UK, including 60% of UK-based participants, 53% of those in Germany and a whopping 73% of those in France.
Only 7% of UK respondents viewed Brexit as a business opportunity, suggesting they don’t expect much from the Brexiteers’ promise of lucrative global trade deals once the UK has unshackled itself from Brussels.
None of the German, French, Japanese or American respondents who were surveyed view Brexit as good for business, by contrast.
And despite talks of an Anglo-American bilateral trade deal, 63% of the US C-level executives who were polled believe Brexit will hurt their annual profits between 0% and 5% in five years’ time, the highest number of companies in all countries surveyed.
The survey also highlighted that foreign companies are very unlikely to want to continue investing in Britain should negotiations with the EU result in a worst-case scenario outcome: only 3% of German companies say they would, compared to a third of British companies.
