Chief executives from companies in France, Germany and Italy are now more positive about the U.K. than they have been in five years, according to a new report.
Despite uncertainty over Brexit and worldwide, the U.K. is as attractive a growth prospect now as it was in 2015, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Annual Global CEO Survey, published at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Monday.
In Germany, the proportion of CEOs who view the U.K. as one of their top three growth targets has more than doubled, from 6% in 2019 to 13% this year, per the report.
In France, the figure is 23% and in Italy it is 14%, up 3 percentage points on last year.
Speaking to CNBC's Karen Tso in Davos, Bob Moritz, chair of PwC International, said U.K. consumers were also more confident.
"When you look at the U.K. specifically, there is less pessimism which is a good trend, especially for the U.K. with all the pessimism that they had compared to last year. You have an increasing consumer confidence," Moritz said.
He added that while the survey was undertaken before the U.K.'s general election in December, CEOs now feel confident. "You've got a little bit more certainty relevant to politics — now the survey was done before the election but nonetheless, at least there was less certainty before and as a result you have an increase in confidence levels for people to take some actions."
Those actions include capital expenditure, mergers and acquisitions and internal investment on training, digital transformation and technology, Moritz added.
U.S. CEOs are also more confident in the U.K. this year, with 20% viewing the country as an attractive growth target, up 4 percentage points on 2019. More Australian bosses see the U.K. as a growth target, up 6 percentage points to 19%, while 11.5% of CEOs in Japan are also positive about the country, up 2.5 percentage points. The U.K. has become marginally less important to CEOs in China, India and Canada.
Kevin Ellis, chair and senior partner at PwC U.K. said the country's time zone and location is an advantage, as well as being a "fair and trusted place to do business."
"Developing infrastructure and skills will enhance the UK's position, and ensure its increased popularity among CEOs translates to more inbound business and investment. Likewise, maintaining an open economy and our deep connections with trading nations will be crucial," Ellis said in a statement emailed to CNBC.
PwC surveyed 3,501 CEOs in 83 territories in September and October 2019 for its Annual Global CEO Survey.
