As the world leader for steel abrasives, we have a unique position to monitor the business climate in many key sectors from automotive to construction, through equipment goods or infrastructure.Always looking to improve our performance, we checked the “pulse” of industrial activity and the satisfaction of our customers with a “Satisfaction and Confidence Barometer”.
Based on a representative panel of 185 customers worldwide; this is a simple and efficient tool to assess the economic situation of our customers, as well as the customers’ needs and their evolution over time. The interviews for this second measure of the barometer were conducted from mid June to mid July 2011
We are pleased to share with you the main results of this barometer pertaining to the “Business climate” and its evolution.
Business Climate evolution Compared to 6 months ago, what would you say today about your business climate ?
43,8% of the respondents estimate their business climate was better mid 2011 compared to 6 months ago.
43,2% didn’t see any improvement and 13,0% found the situation worse.
North America, Eastern Europe and South America have seen an activity recovery in the first 6 months of 2011 with respectively 69,2%, 66,6% and 52,4% of positive opinion. In Western Europe, 10,8% of our customers found the business climate worse and 53,8% have not perceived any recovery in their business climate. Same statement in Asia with 28,3% of the interviewers who found their business climate worse and 39,6% did not see any improvements in the first 6 months of the year.
Business Climate confidence On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means "not at all confident" and 10 means "extremely confident",
how confident are you with your business climate in the 6 months to come?
When we assess the expectation for the next six months, again Americas demonstrate the most bullish feeling, although the confidence mark in North America registered a drop of 0,5 points vs. last measure. Asia as well as European customers are more cautious, especially in Eastern Europe, where the confidence mark for the 6 months to come drop by almost 1 points vs. H2 2010 measure.
Globally speaking, the business Climate confidence for the 6 months to come slightly decreased. (-0,09 pts)
