Apr. 2020
Survey of Corporate Attitudes towards Performance Outlook for FY 2020
44.4% of companies anticipating decreases in income and profit for FY 2020
— COVID-19 and prospects for consumer spending determine performance —
Introduction
Constraints on economic activities continue in the domestic economy due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), amid continuing slowdown of overseas economies, such as in China and Europe. We don’t see when the situation returns to normal, and uncertainty about the future is increasing, such as the decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On the other hand, 5G (fifth generation of wireless communications systems) kicking into full swing, and reshoring of production are expected to be positive factors. Therefore, Teikoku Databank has conducted a survey of corporate attitudes towards the performance outlook for FY 2020. This survey was conducted in conjunction with the March 2020 TDB Trends Research.
*Survey period: March 17 – 31, 2020; Companies Surveyed: 23,676; Valid Responses: 11,330 (Response Rate: 47.9%) The survey of the performance outlook has been conducted every year since February 2009, and this is the 12th survey.
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey website (https://www.tdb-di.com).
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 13.5% of companies anticipate “increases in income and profit” in the performance outlook for FY 2020, 11.3 points down from the previous survey’s performance outlook for FY 2019 (in March 2019). On the other hand, 44.4% of those anticipate “decreases in income and profit”, 22.6 points up from the performance outlook for 2019. Companies taking a bleak view of the performance outlook for FY 2020 are rapidly increasing.
- 2 With respect to upside factors in the performance outlook for FY 2020, “convergence of infectious disease” ranked top at 43.3%. “Recovery of consumer spending” (34.8%) was ranked second highest, while continuing to refrain from going out, followed by “an increase in public works”, “Chinese economy growth”, “expansion of economic policies”, and “alleviation of labor shortage”. On the other hand, “spread of infectious disease” ranked top at 62.0% in the downside factors, followed by “further downturn in consumer spending” (40.7%).
- 3 Companies evaluated the achievements of the economic policies of the Abe Administration (Abenomics) at 59.4 out of 100 points, 2.4 points down from the previous survey, and below 60 points for the first time since 2015 when we started to ask this question. There has been an increasingly bleak view.