Apr. 2017
Survey of Corporate Attitudes toward Capital Investment in FY2017
52.4% of Companies Plan to Make Capital Investments in FY2017
— 40% will use internal funding and 30% will use long-term borrowing as their main funding method —
Introduction
While the growth in personal consumption is moderately stagnant, expectations for the domestic economy are growing for capital investment, along with exports, to be a driving force. The government has set a goal to expand annual capital investment to around 80 trillion yen by FY2018 in its “Growth Strategy 2016,” and is moving forward with policies to improve productivity, such as its expansion of the Tax System for Promoting Investments in Small and Mid-sized Companies.
Therefore, Teikoku Databank has conducted a survey of corporate opinions with respect to FY2017 capital investment plans. This survey was conducted in conjunction with the April 2017 TDB Trends Research.
*The survey period was April 17 – April 30, 2017; Companies Surveyed: 23,920; Valid Responses: 10,029 (Response Rate: 41.9%).
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey HP. (http://www.tdb-di.com).
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 52.4% of companies “do have” plans to make capital investments in FY2017. This varied significantly based on company size, with over 60% (60.8%) of large companies having such plans, while 50.3% of “Small and mid-sized companies” and 38.1% of “Small companies” have such plans. The highest percentages by industry were, “Transportation and warehousing” (71.6%), “Manufacturing” (68.3%), and “Retail sales” (57.6%). On the other hand, 36.9% “do not have” plans to make capital investments.
- 2 In terms of the type of capital investments planned, 44.7% of companies are planning to “Replace equipment” (multiple answers). This was followed by “Maintenance and repair of existing equipment” (36.0%), “Increased production and sales capacity (domestic)” (27.9%), “Labor saving and rationalization” (24.7%), and “Information and IT related” (19.5%). While there was significant demand for upgrades and updates, investments with respect to manpower shortages were also high.
- 3 In terms of how much companies plan to invest, “10 million yen or more but less than 50 million yen” (30.3%) was the top answer, with the average planned investment being around 158,210,000 yen. In terms of funding methods, “Self-funding” (43.9%) and “Long-term loans from financial institutions” (33.0%) were the top answers, together accounting for a combined total of almost 80% (76.9%). Only 0.1% of companies responded with “Cloudfunding.”
- 4 The top reason for not making capital investments was an “Inability to see the future” (40.5%), followed by “Equipment is suitable at present” (33.5%), and “Cannot secure sufficient profits to fund investments” (22.1%). Small and mid-sized companies were particularly likely to postpone capital investments due to concerns with respect to future uncertainty.