European CFO Survey with Portugal insights Autumn 2020

Key Findings

• In general, Portuguese CFOs feel more optimistic regarding their companies’ financial prospects for the next three months than they did in the last CFO Survey edition in March (39 per cent versus 13 per cent accordingly), showing some confidence recovery after some relieve of the restrictive measures of the 1st wave of the pandemic.

• The level of uncertainty regarding the overall level of external financial and economic uncertainty facing their business remains high and they are amongst the less optimistic in Europe. 17 per cent consider their companies to be already at or above pre-COVID level, while 49 per cent expect to return to pre-crisis level only from the second half of 2021 forward.

• Almost 50% of the Portuguese CFOs consider their revenues, number of employees and CAPEX are likely to decrease in the next 12 months, which reflects a decline in these expectations when compared to spring survey – where only 29 per cent expected CAPEX to decline.

• For Portuguese CFOs the top priority is cost reduction, hitting an all-time high (92%), followed by digitalization. Regarding growth strategies, growth in existing markets and introducing new products and services have a higher priority than expanding by acquisition or entering new markets.