Optimism falls among company finance chiefs

The modest fall in optimism comes against a backdrop of economic and political uncertainty, even though many CFOs said their companies had performed better than expected so far this year.

Of those polled, 93 per cent believed a hung Parliament would be negative for the economy and 85 per cent see reducing public debt as the top economic priority for the next Government

Eighty two per cent expected a sluggish, but sustained recovery.

Deloitte partner and head of the Leeds audit practice Chris Powell said: "The good news this quarter is that the financial environment for larger corporates continues to improve, with credit availability returning to pre-recessionary levels. This isn't to say that financing conditions for corporates are back to those experienced prior to mid 2007.

"Even among the larger quoted companies, most continue to rate credit as 'hard to get' and 'costly'. What emerges from these findings is that financing conditions for larger companies are slowly improving.

"However, that still leaves corporates with plenty to worry about in terms of the pace of the recovery and the election.

"CFO sentiment appears to be consistent with the current general mood of uncertainty about the pace of UK recovery and speculation that the General Election may deliver a hung Parliament."

The survey of 140 chief financial officers took place between March 11 and March 25.