Family-run businesses in Hong Kong significantly underperformed their global peers in the past year, according to a new survey, and could face slower growth ahead if protests in the city continue.
Only 37 percent of family businesses in the city recorded growth in the past twelve months, compared with the global average of 65 percent, PwC's '2014 Family Business Survey' showed. The survey covered family firms with sales turnover of between $5 million to $1 billion in over 40 countries.
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Slowing growth in China, foreign exchange volatility and a mild economic recovery in the West were all to blame for poor performance, Kitty Chung, assurance and business advisory services partner at PwC Hong Kong, told CNBC.
Much has been written about the impact of the city's four-week old pro-democracy movement on the economy and PwC said that while the full impact from the protests won't be known until much later, the tensions will affect city-wide businesses.
Earlier this month, Societe Generale economist Wei Yao wrote in a note that "social discontent and its aftermath are likely to cast a long shadow over the city's long-term economic potential."