Moscow, July, 06, 2010 – The key attractiveness indicators for investments like market potential, size and the expectation of positive development are giving rise to careful optimism about business opportunities in Russia. This is the bottom line of a study conducted jointly by the Finance and Investments Committee of the Association of European Businesses (AEB) and the Moscow office of the management consultancy Droege & Comp. The member base of approximately 600 companies of the AEB was questioned in context with this fifth edition of the survey on strategies and prospects of European businesses in Russia.

2008/09 abruptly reminded Russia that the comfortable past decade of buoyant growth could not last forever. In fact, our 2009 survey saw the percentage of respondents expecting positive short term economic outlook for the Russian economy plummet from 83 percent in 2007 to just 3 percent.

By contrast, the partial recovery of expectations of a positive short term development of the Russian economy to 37 percent in this year’s study reflects a strengthening belief that the silver lining at the horizon is becoming clearer. Similarly, when asked about the prospects of their companies’ Russian operations, the share of managers expecting positive growth of sales and profit within the next three years is halfway back to its pre-crisis heights: 89 (+8) and 84 (+4) percent, respectively, in comparison to the previous study.

This remarkably quick return to a healthy degree of optimism is essentially founded on the traditional drivers of market potential, size and the expectation of positive development. These factors continue to be cited as key reasons for AEB member companies that have ventured into the Russian market. In addition, it is highly encouraging that the time required for investments to break even seems to have stabilized after a strong increase over 2001-07. Hans-Dieter Zaum, General Director of the Droege & Comp. office in Moscow notes that "companies did their homework in cost cutting during the crisis and growth topics are returning onto companies’ agendas as confidence in the recovery rises". Frank Schauff, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of European Businesses, adds "we are happy to see that European investors in Russia have adjusted their strategies to more positive trends and that their prospects and expectations are growing more favourable in comparison to our last study. This is a very good sign for stronger development in the near future".

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