Surveyor: Don't look down, don't call us.

Increase in the number of press articles mentioning “profits warning”, Q4 1996 to Q4 1998 – 69% Proportion of Q3 1998 profits warnings that came from manufacturers – 56% Proportion of UK chemicals companies making profits warnings in Q3 1998 – 1-in-6 Proportion of companies which cited stagnant or falling domestic demand in warnings – 36% Source: Reuters Business Briefing, Ernst & Young Confidence trick Proportion of companies less confident about business in Q3 than in Q2 1998 (CBI survey) – 62% Years since CBI’s business confidence rating was so low – 8 Proportion of companies predicting a decrease in exports (Dun & Bradstreet survey) – 55% Years since D&B’s confidence rating was as low as in Q3 1998 – 5 Proportion of consumers who feel as well or better off than last year – 71% Source: CBI, Dun & Bradstreet, American Express It is better to travel … Proportion of business travellers using first or business class seats on airlines – 56% Ditto, who would reconsider flying with a carrier if it enforced stricter rules on carry-on baggage – 40% Ditto, who belonged to at least five different frequent flyer programmes – 28% Ditto, who are bound by corporate travel policies – 87% Source: OAG Business Travel Lifestyle Survey 1998 Women, not girls, rule my world Percentage of women in the UK workforce in 1973 – 37% Ditto, 1998 – 50% Percentage of women in UK management in 1973 – 2% Ditto, 1998 – 18% Average earnings of male directors in the UK, 1998: £94,742 Ditto, female directors – £66,711 Source: Institute of Management Time-wasters Total time spent by UK directors each year looking for extension numbers of staff in overseas offices – 34,619 weeks Average time one director spends each year looking for extension numbers of staff in overseas offices – 3 days Proportion of average director’s working day spent dealing with e-mail – 11% Source: KPMG Management Consulting Timewatch (10.00, 24.12.98) Number of hours until 11 currencies become one euro currency – 182 Number of euro-11 countries with triple-A credit ratings – 5 Number of hours until you’re 100% sure how good your millennium bug fix has been – 8,942.