Companies reluctant to make investments

Enterprises appear reluctant to take any investment initiatives in the near future, despite financing opportunities generated by the recovery fund and the improvement of business sentiment, the annual survey conducted by Grant Thornton has found.

Six out of 10 corporations in Greece say they have no intention of making any investments in new facilities, engineering equipment or research in the foreseeable future.

The picture is reversed however in the technology sector, with six out of 10 companies saying they are willing to implement investments, as they largely acknowledge their significance and consider then an opportunity and not a threat.

The survey covered 400 enterprises from all domains of the economy and was presented at the annual Business Awards ceremony organized in cooperation with Eurobank. Based on the responses, the reluctance is also reflected in the attitude of Greek enterprises toward the greatest opportunity for growth they have had – i.e. the funds set to flow in from the Greece 2.0 program.

Grant Thornton found that seven in every 10 enterprises believe that their investment contribution will be significant for the economy, but only four in 10 think an investment would make a difference for themselves – the same rate as that of possible users of Recovery Fund resources. Out of the four in 10 to use funds from Greece 2.0, only 10% have already drafted a full plan, while 40% are in the preparation stage and 50% at the initial assessment of the opportunity ahead of them.

The Greek enterprises appear to rely on internal procedures for the growth of their activities and profits, Grant Thornton observes. That concerns the reorganization of their internal operations (nine out of 10 respondents), cost reduction (8/10), focusing on domestic markets (7/10), and marketing practices and/or optimization of sales tactics (7/10).

It appears that mergers, acquisitions and management strengthening only concern a small share of companies (just one in five). A more encouraging sign comes from the six out of 10 firms that said they are seeking to launch of new products or services and five in 10 are seeking out new markets.