Irish business leaders are less concerned than global peers about how geopolitical risks, including a second term for Donald Trump, might affect their business in the coming year. Photo: Reuters
Irish business leaders are more optimistic but less innovative than their peers in Europe, according to a new report.
Fear of a second Donal Trump presidency or of fallout from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza is having no impact on Irish business leaders’ economic outlook.
Almost three quarters (73pc) of Irish medium-sized companies surveyed predict a positive year ahead, according to the latest International Business Report (IBR) from Grant Thornton.
A majority of businesses here expect revenues (57pc), profits (59pc) and headcount (52pc) to increase over the next 12 months.
The IBR provides insights into the attitudes of 10,000 mid-market businesses across 28 economies.
It identified a notable difference in the level of optimism in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, with a eurozone average of 59pc forecasting a positive economic outlook for the next 12 months.
One key to the contrasting mood between Irish SMEs and peers elsewhere is a belief that geopolitical disruption is unlikely to prove to be a constraint on their ability to grow.
Just 17pc of Irish firms surveyed registered it as a concern, compared with a e urozone average of 42pc. Globally almost half of businesses now see geopolitical disruption as a risk to their growth plans. The data suggests Irish business operators may be underestimating the potential fall out of global volatility and uncertainty.
One area where Irish businesses are concerned in energy costs, with 43pc identifying utility bills as the main growth constraint even after prices that spiked after the Ukraine invasion fell back.
Just under a quarter (24pc) of businesses surveyed here expect to increase R&D investment in the next 12 months, compared with 48pc of eurozone and 60pc of global peers.
Irish businesses are remarkably positive in their outlook for the future, according to Grant Thornton’s Head of Deal Advisory, Patrick Dillon.
“Having navigated the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and disruption in global supply chains in recent years, these firms have proved their resilience and have a noted level of confidence in an uncertain world. It will be important, however, not to rest on our laurels by overlooking the opportunity to invest in innovation in order to gain a competitive advantage in a global marketplace,” he said.