Ernst & Young plays down green shoots of recovery
Accountants Ernst & Young has stepped forward to pour cold water on hopes of an immediate recovery in the UK economy. The company has collated information regarding profits warnings in the first quarter of 2009 which hit a total of 117, a figure which has not been seen since 2001. In total, more than 300 companies in the UK have downgraded their profit forecasts in the last nine months, suggesting that the green shoots of recovery could still be some way off.
Ernst & Young has also highlighted the rather downbeat nature of many company forecasts for the immediate future and the fact that UK base rates appear set to hold at 0.5% at the next MPC meeting. While a number of recent reports have suggested a marked increase in liquidity across money markets in the UK, the report by Ernst & Young indicates this has yet to reach UK businesses in general. At this moment in time it seems very much as though it is one step forward and two steps back for the UK economy although it would be wrong to suggest there have not been any improvements in certain areas of the UK banking arena.
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