Half of Companies See Pre-Virus Profitability by End-2021

Just over half of businesses globally expect to have returned to pre-Covid levels of profitability by the end of next year, according to a poll of about 10,400 companies in 39 markets. That still leaves about nine out of 20 that don’t expect to make the mark until 2022 or later, the survey by Kantar on behalf of HSBC Holdings Plc found. Firms were questioned between Sept. 11 and Oct. 7 -- when signs of a new spike were emerging across Europe, prospects were bleak for a U.K.-European Union deal on Brexit, and before Joe Biden won the Nov. 3 election in the U.S.