Reuters, LONDONSitting on US$1 trillion in cash and emerging from years of caution, European companies are now showing the strongest year-on-year growth in capital spending plans in the world. European firms, weighed down by sovereign debt crises, sluggish earnings and political uncertainties, hunkered down and put spending plans on hold over the past few years. Year-on-year growth in capital expenditures, or capex, for European companies is currently about 3 percent, easily outpacing other major regions globally. European companies are “warming to a culture of capex,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists said in a note, adding that they expected the median capex at large European corporate borrowers to rise by 20 percent this year. Instead, the pick-up in capex is expected to focus on infrastructure spending, with firms investing in new equipment and technology.

Source: Taipei Times July 21, 2017 15:56 UTC