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Survey of Corporate Attitudes Towards Performance Outlook for 2019

Anticipating “increases in income and profit,”4.5 points down from last year
— Companies evaluate Abenomics at 61.8 points,down for two consecutive years —

Introduction

The slowdown in Chinese and European economies, overseas economic risks such as US-China trade friction, and the serious labor shortage against the backdrop of a tight labor market have been negative factors for the domestic economy, which continues to be sluggish nationwide. Moreover, the consumption tax hike to 10% is scheduled for October 2019, and uncertainties have further intensified.

On the other hand, in addition to increases in public investment and demand for labor savings, improvements in consumer confidence are anticipated alongside events in Japan such as the Rugby World Cup and Tokyo 2020 and the change in the name of the era, but business confidence varies among regions, industries and sizes.

Therefore, Teikoku Databank has conducted a survey of corporate attitudes towards the performance outlook for 2019. This survey was conducted in conjunction with the March 2019 TDB Trends Research.

*Survey period: March 15 – 31, 2019; Companies Surveyed: 23,181; Valid Responses: 9,712 (Response Rate: 41.9%) The survey of the performance outlook has been conducted every year since March 2009, and this is the 11th survey.

*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. 1 24.8% of companies anticipate “increases in income and profit” in the performance outlook for 2019, 4.5 points down from the performance outlook for 2018. On the other hand, those anticipating “decreases in income and profit” increased 5.1 points from the performance outlook for 2018. A slightly bleaker view is taken for performance in 2019.
  2. 2 With respect to upside factors in the performance outlook for 2019, “recovery of consumer spending” at 27.0% ranked top and has been the leading upside factor for the eighth consecutive year, followed by “last-minute demand ahead of the consumption tax hike to 10%,” and “an increase in public works.” On the other hand, “serious labor shortage” ranked top at 39.0% in the downside factors, as was the case in the previous survey, followed by “economic deterioration in China,” and “further downturn in consumer spending.” This has implied that these companies also feel uneasy about the slowdown in the overseas economy along with the labor shortage.
  3. 3 Companies evaluate the achievements of the economic policies of the Abe Administration (Abenomics) at 61.8 out of 100 points. Although companies have generally given an evaluation of more than 60 points for Abenomics over the last six years, the level of evaluation by companies has fallen for two consecutive years, and there has been an increasingly bleak view.
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