Quoted company profit warnings hit seven year high
Accountancy group Ernst & Young has today revealed that the number of UK listed companies which announced profit warnings in 2008 reached a seven-year high of 449. This is a substantial increase on the figure seen in 2007 but many are concerned that we will see more bad news in 2009. However, are we in some way talking ourselves into a deeper recession or are things really as bad as people may have you believe?
There have been a number of press comments over the weekend regarding the dire outlook for the UK economy in 2009 and the fact that in some ways we may well be talking ourselves into a deeper recession. As we saw with the collapse of Northern Rock, once word was out that the bank was in trouble all of their customers left and the government was forced to step in with a rescue buyout. Could this be happening in the wider economy?
Where there is no doubt that the UK economy is in trouble there is a danger of overhyping the problems and making the situation even worse. This is where the confidence factor comes into play and the ability to instil some confidence into any area of the economy is vital. Confidence breeds confidence but negativity also breeds negativity.
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