Riders On The Storm

Deloitte's latest CFO survey points to mounting corporate uncertainty, as firms assess the impact of global financial market volatility and weak emerging market growth. How does all this impact UK real estate?

The results of our latest CFO Survey are clear: large corporates are jittery...again.  CFO's perceptions of external financial and economic uncertainty have seen the sharpest rise since we first asked this question five years ago. Emerging markets now rank joint second, together with concerns about Euro area growth, on CFO's list of worries. So, unsurprisingly, firms are telling us they are adopting a more defensive stance.  In particular, the outlook for hiring over the next 12 months has deteriorated noticeably, along with that for capital expenditure, as the emphasis on cost cutting increases.