Middle Market Executives Are Optimistic for Growth but Less Confident about National & Global Economies; See Terrorism & Tax ...
October 26 2016 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
CIT Releases Annual Voice of the Middle Market
Study Highlighting the Perspectives of U.S. Middle Market
Executives
- Greatest Confidence in Strength of
Business, Less for National and Global Economies
- Optimistic Outlook for Expansion and
Product Development
- Plans for Workforce Growth Over the
Next 12 Months
Middle market executives remain generally optimistic about the
strength of their businesses, with at least 80% foreseeing
expansion and diversification over the next twelve months. Though a
slight majority (55%) believes their local economy is strong, most
express near-term apprehension over the state of the national (44%)
and global (31%) economies. These are just some of the key findings
found in the fifth annual Voice of the Middle MarketTM study
released today by CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), a leading provider of
commercial lending and leasing services.
Jeff Kilrea, Group Head and Managing Director of CIT Sponsor
Finance, said, “This study is vital to how we do business, and it
helps CIT to better understand the middle market perspective. An
important finding of the study is that middle market executives are
still more directly influenced by personal measures like personal
experiences and company performance than they are by more objective
measures like government data and the media. Their confidence
remains in what’s local, and it has shaped how they view the
economy as a whole.”
In the wake of recent terrorist acts, 87% of middle market
executives say that it is important to their company that the new
session of Congress in 2017 addresses terrorism. Concerns over tax
reform (86%), cyber security (84%), reduced federal spending (84%),
and healthcare reform (79%), follow closely behind.
While middle market executives do not express one crystal clear
vision of Congress, the majority are in relative agreement that
changes in the regulatory environment like the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (63% support its passage) and the Dodd-Frank Act (80%
saying it has made it easier or no difference to get capital
needed) have been or will be good - or at least neutral - with
respect to their business.
Key Findings:
- The Greatest Confidence Lies in the
Strength of Business, Less for National and Global Economies:
More than half of middle market executives (55%) believe the
current state of their local economy is very strong/strong. Far
fewer feel the same way about the U.S. economy (44%) and even fewer
for the global economy (31%). However, executives are more
optimistic than in 2015 about all three economies (47% for the
local economy, 35% for the U.S. economy, and 22% for the global
economy a year ago).
- Growth Expected over the Next 12
Months: Middle market executives are generally optimistic about
what the future will hold for their companies, with an overwhelming
81% foreseeing growth into adjacent markets over the next 12
months. 51% of middle market executives surveyed believe that their
company will be buying/acquiring another company over the course of
the next year.
- No Clear Consensus on the Impact of
Congress: 44% of middle market executives think Congress is
doing too little to support middle market businesses, 37% say
Congress is doing a sufficient amount and 19% say it’s doing too
much.
- Nearly all A’s for Financing:
There is pervasive optimism about the state of financing for middle
market executives. At least 9 in 10 are satisfied with their
current banking relationship (91%) and/or their financial lender
(92%). And nearly the same proportion feels comfortable with the
options for, access to, and cost of financing (88%, 91%, and 86%,
respectively).
- There’s a Growing Demand for
Staff: Over the next 12 months, more than 3 in 4 middle market
executives (78%) believe the workforce at their company will
increase. However, nearly 2 in 3 executives (64%) agree that when
it comes to their current workforce, they are expected to
accomplish more with fewer employees.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
CIT thought leadership content can be found at the Knowledge
Center on CIT.com (cit.com/knowledgecenter) and our CIT Point of
View blog (cit.com/pov). View our corporate video
(cit.com/corporatevideo) and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn,
YouTube and Facebook. Register to receive press releases at
cit.com/newsalerts.
About the Survey
This survey was conducted online within the United States by
Harris Poll on behalf of CIT from July 25 to August 16, 2016 among
517 U.S. executives representing a range of industries, of which
363 executives are employed at mid-sized companies. Qualified
middle market executives were age 24+, employed full-time, working
in selected industries with revenue between $25 million and $1
billion, 10 or more employees, and a majority of employees based in
the U.S. as well as having one of the following titles: Owner,
Board Member, C-suite executives (Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
Chief Operating Officer (COO),Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief
Information Officer (CIO), Chief Investment Officer, Other C-level
executive), Sr. Vice President/Vice President/Director. Data for
the middle market segment were weighted where necessary to bring
them in line with the population of interest as based on the 2015
CIT Topline by Revenue Client Report, for the following variables:
Gender, Title, Revenue, Industry, Percentage of Employees based in
the US, Region of Headquarters, and Company Ownership
structure.
About CIT
Founded in 1908, CIT (NYSE:CIT) is a financial holding company
with more than $65 billion in assets. Its principal bank
subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A., (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender) has
more than $30 billion of deposits and more than $40 billion of
assets. It provides financing, leasing and advisory services
principally to middle market companies across a wide variety of
industries primarily in North America, and equipment financing and
leasing solutions to the transportation sector. It also offers
products and services to consumers through its Internet bank
franchise and a network of retail branches in Southern California,
operating as OneWest Bank, a division of CIT Bank, N.A. cit.com
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161026005553/en/
CIT MEDIA RELATIONS:Matt Klein, (973) 597-2020Director,
Media RelationsMatt.Klein@cit.comorCIT INVESTOR
RELATIONS:Barbara Callahan, (973) 740-5058Senior Vice
PresidentBarbara.Callahan@cit.com
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