Canada's CEOs Remain Confident Their Company Will Do Financially Better In 2004

Toronto, ONTARIO - A majority of Canada's CEOs (72%) are confident that their own company is likely to do financially better in 2004 than it did last year - a virtually identical proportion (71%) expressed the same view in 2002 about the 2003 outlook. CEOs continue to be just as confident in 2003 that their workforce will continue to expand - 51% say this is likely over the next two years (compared to 50% in 2002) with only 12% expecting their workforce to be downsized. One-third (36%) say that their national workforce expectations remain unchanged.

These are the findings from the Ninth Annual Canada's Most Respected Corporations Survey sponsored by KPMG and conducted by Ipsos-Reid. The survey was conducted between August and November, 2003. The survey involved interviews of 255 of the leading CEOs in Canada.

Seven in Ten (72%) Confident That Their Company Will Do Financially Better Than Last Year...

A majority (72%) of CEOs indicate that they will do financially better in 2004 than they did in 2003. This is essentially unchanged from the 71% who held this view in 2002 looking forward to 2003. Only 5% indicate that the financial outlook is likely to be worse than last year (down three points from 8% who held this view in 2002 projecting onto 2003) while 20% indicate the financial outlook will likely be the same as last year.

Business Spending Bounces Back To Buoyant 2001 Levels As 53% (Up From 46% in 2002) of CEOs Prepare To Open Company Wallets...

With over half (53%) of CEOs planning to increase spending in the coming year, it would seem that CEOs have bounced back from the dip in 2002 (when 46% indicated they would be increasing spending in 2003) and have come back to 2001 levels projecting onto 2002 (52%). This contrasts with the 12% who indicate that business spending is likely to decrease (down slightly from 16% in 2002 projections for 2003), and 33% who indicate that their business spending will likely remain the same, down from 37% in 2002 projections for 2003.

Workplace Expansion Plans Are Steady... When considering their Canadian workforce over the next two years, 51% of CEOs indicate that they will likely be expanding. This represents a consistent level of expectations since their 2002 projections for the coming year, but is down from higher levels of expectations in 1999 when 62% indicated workplace expansion plans, followed by 63% in 2000 and 57% in 2001. As for downsizing, 12% of CEOs see this in their plans for the next two years - almost exactly the same number for the last five years. The bottom line: half expect to hire more, about a third are likely to stand pat and one-in-ten are likely to trim the ranks.

Some Overall Highlights:

• CEOs in Atlantic Canada (89%) are the most confident that their business will do financially better in 2004, with Ontario (79%), and Alberta (72%) following behind. Business leaders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (55%) are the least inclined to believe that the coming year will bring greater fortune for their business.

• In keeping with their rosier outlook on the coming year, CEOs in Atlantic Canada (67%) are the most likely to be planning a spending increase next year.

• Atlantic Canadian CEOs (78%) are also the most likely to be planning to expand their Canadian workforce in the coming year.

Please open the attached PDFs to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900