Britian’s CFOs brighten even as uncertainty becomes ‘new normal’

Berlin / AFP

Britain’s chief financial officers are turning optimistic as they head into the new year, though they intend to be cautious amid the cloudy economic outlook, according to Deloitte. The number of CFOs that are more positive about the prospects for their companies outweigh those who are more pessimistic by the most in 18 months, the fourth-quarter survey published Thursday showed. Despite that, 9 in ten said they face high levels of economic and financial uncertainty, just a fraction lower than the 95 percent figure seen shortly after the U.K.’s June vote to leave the European Union. Appetite for risk also remained diminished. “Uncertainty is the new normal in business life,” said David Sproul, chief executive at Deloitte. “2016 has been a tumultuous year but the optimism seen in this survey does give us some confidence heading in to 2017.”
Despite the initial shock from the Brexit vote, the country’s economy has maintained momentum as economic data proved to be better than many expected. But with potentially two years of exit negotiations set to begin in the new year, businesses are looking to stay flexible.