A little less upbeat is the best way to describe the outlook of many of the nation?s chief company executives, according to the recent Business Roundtable survey released this week.
For the third quarter, the survey results showed a decline in economic outlook to an index of 82.4 from 98.6 for the second quarter. The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers from many of the nation?s largest companies.
About 109 of 160 CEO members of the Business Roundtable completed the survey, which is conducted each quarter.
“Although the CEOs? projections for sales, capital spending and employment still indicate positive growth, we believe that we are beginning to see the effects of energy and interest rate pricing pressures reflected in the business outlook,” said Harold McGraw III, chairman of the Business Roundtable and CEO of publishing giant McGraw-Hill Companies.
“The outlook shows that America?s leading companies are expecting slower growth over the next six months with lower expectations for expansion in sales, capital spending and employment,” stated a release outlining details of the survey.
Some national economic indicators also suggest a slowdown.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that August new home construction fell to a three-year low with national housing starts plunging 6 percent. It was double the slide projected by economists. Local numbers are not available.
Anirban Basu, CEO of Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore economic and policy consulting firm, said CEOs are rightly becoming somewhat pessimistic.
“The only groups that are more pessimistic are home builders and consumers,” Basu said.
“Certainly, the Baltimore area will experience pain if there is indeed a national economic slowdown,” Basu said.
But in recent reports, Baltimore- area company executives appeared somewhat upbeat in their assessment of their companies? economic futures.
Robert Lawless, CEO of McCormick & Co. in Sparks, recently reported that his company, a spice maker, is “on track with its 2006 goal to increase gross profit margin 1.0 percentage point.”
Lawless also said: “An excellent first-half performance provides us with the opportunity to finish the year at the upper end of our projected earnings per share range while continuing our investment in advertising, promotion and other growth initiatives.”
The company projected 2006 per share earnings between $1.41 and $1.44 up from previous projections of $1.21 to $1.24 per share.
