UK businesses remain confident in China despite uncertainty, pain

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British businesses in China are expecting to see revenue falls in 2020 as a direct result of the COVID-19 virus outbreak, but the head of its chamber maintains that they are still confident over the country's fundamentals.

A survey last week of 135 companies by the British Chamber of Commerce in China showed that nearly 70 percent of British businesses operating on the Chinese mainland believe revenues could drop for the year. Almost half predict revenue will fall by at least 10 percent.

"Undoubtedly if we look at the year ahead, the projections by the companies are being downgraded. But if we look at the fundamentals of China though, we see continued confidence in China as a place for the membership and British businesses," the chamber's chair St. John Moore told CGTN.

Moore also noted that it was critical that the Chinese government has been putting in various support mechanisms to ensure that businesses can continue through these challenging times.

"We want fair and open access to these, regardless of where they are," he said.

"It is really important that we find ways to eventually get back to business as normal to support these enterprises and companies that deliver enormous value to the local community, within Beijing, across China, and all of the cities."

Graphic by CGTN's Qu Bo

UK firms see March re-opening

The novel coronavirus outbreak has impacted businesses across sectors, with several foreign trade associations, including the German and European Union chambers of commerce and American Chamber of Commerce, this week reporting that their members expect revenue dips especially for the first few quarters.

Companies had said in the UK survey they were affected by reduced demand for their products and services, travel disruptions and business uncertainties. And while over half of the businesses remained closed at the time of the survey, most plan to reopen by the end of February and March.

The survey also showed that smaller companies were more vulnerable to the economic effects of the outbreak than multinationals.

"This is being felt across industries. It's not a sector-specific issue, but we are seeing that the SMEs, those smaller medium-sized businesses are feeling it far more acutely than some of the larger businesses that can rely upon global support and can offset globally," said Moore.

(Cover: London Bridge in London. /VCG)