Could European companies post double-digit growth in 2017?

Despite political upheavals, the current environment of low growth and low interest rates should be broadly positive for equities in Europe.

Companies do not have to contend with significant upward pressure on wages or raw material costs and those that want to borrow to invest in their business can do so relatively cheaply. The flipside is that generating double-digit profit growth is likely to be harder when economic growth is subdued. That said, we continue to see encouraging trading results from companies operating in a broad range of sectors. It is true that the financial sector remains vulnerable to shocks, with the level of bad debts carried by Italian banks, for example, a significant cause for concern. Cerulli: ...