Released, 8 December 1999

The McCannics isurvey, October 1999

euro or no?

Sales and Prices

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The most recent McCannics isurvey (formerly known as the e-survey) reveals a small shift against the euro among internet-connected businesses in the UK over the past year. However, a majority remain in favour of the UK joining.

The chart (left) shows that in the June 1998 survey (when the question was last asked) 66 per cent of respondents said that they believed, in principle, that the UK should at some point join the Single European Currency (the euro). In this survey, the proportion is down a little, to 61 per cent.

More importantly, indecision seems to have been converted to hostility. In June 1998 only 26 per cent of respondents were against the UK joining the euro, while 9 per cent had no opinion. Now, 38 per cent are against and only 2 per cent are undecided.

Comments from respondents ...

The internet-connected firms taking part in the isurvey report some improvement in the economy. The proportion of respondents reporting their sales were higher in September 1999 than September 1998 is up to 52%. These firms now comfortably outnumber the 23% which say that their sales fell over the year, giving a balance (proportion reporting an increase minus proportion reporting a fall) of +29%, compared with -9% in the last survey (see chart, right).

The balance of firms reporting that their selling prices in September 1999 were higher than in September 1998 also shows a rise compared with the previous survey - up from +9% to +24%.

The twenty-seventh survey questionnaire was e-mailed on 26th October 1999 to regular participants in the survey.

In addition, McCannics is pleased to thank HSBC for a mention of the isurvey in their publication Business Update. Questionnaires were e-mailed to readers of Business Update who volunteered to take part between 25th October and the end of November.

By 2nd December, responses had been received from 66 businesses across the UK.

The isurvey has been operating on a pilot scale for the past two years and is now ready to show its full potential. Organisations which would like to collaborate should contact McCannics. Individual UK-based businesses which would like to take part in the survey should send a blank e-mail to volunteer@isurvey.co.uk.

All individual replies will be kept strictly confidential. Only anonymised results will be published, and your e-mail address will not be passed on to any third party.

E-mail us with comments, queries or suggestions for future topical questions at: isurvey@mccannics.co.uk