The spring 2026 survey, based on responses from 1,136 CFOs across 12 European countries, shows a sharp deterioration in business sentiment. Some 48% of respondents said they were less optimistic about their company’s financial prospects than three months earlier, almost double the 25% recorded in autumn 2025 and the highest level since the energy crisis of 2022.
The change in mood comes despite more than half of CFOs still expecting revenue growth over the coming year. The bigger concern is profitability: 36% expect operating margins to decline, while 35% expect them to improve. Even among companies forecasting revenue growth, 42% expect margins to remain flat or fall.
Deloitte says the deterioration is being driven by a combination of geopolitical risk, elevated energy and input costs, and growing pressure on margins.
Over the two years to March 2026, 42% of European companies said energy costs had negatively affected profitability and investment decisions. Looking ahead, 48% of CFOs expect developments in the Middle East to have a negative impact on margins and investment over the next 12 months, while a further 15% expect indirect effects through factors including macroeconomic slowdown, supply-chain disruption or tighter regulation.
Only 21% said they felt adequately prepared through previous hedging and diversification measures.
Cost cutting becomes a Europe-wide priority
The most striking shift in corporate strategy is the renewed emphasis on cost control.
For the first time in the history of Deloitte’s European CFO Survey, cost reduction ranks among the top three priorities in every country covered by the study. At the same time, expectations for organic growth have fallen to 45%, their lowest level outside the pandemic period and well below the 83% recorded in spring 2024.
Companies are also becoming more selective about where they grow. Expansion in existing markets has risen to 45%, the highest level since spring 2022, suggesting that businesses are increasingly choosing to strengthen established positions rather than enter new markets or pursue aggressive expansion.
Hiring plans point in the same direction. Only 23% of companies expect to increase headcount, while 36% expect reductions and 41% foresee no change. Deloitte describes this as a shift towards labour-cost discipline and productivity improvements rather than headcount-led expansion.
Capital spending is equally restrained. Just 26% of CFOs plan to increase capital expenditure over the coming year, while 45% expect it to remain unchanged. Meanwhile, 85% believe the current environment is not suitable for taking greater balance-sheet risk.
What this means for transport and logistics
The survey does not provide a separate breakdown for road transport or logistics companies, so the findings should not be read as a direct measure of haulier sentiment.
However, they do show the financial environment in which transport operators and, crucially, their customers are making investment and procurement decisions.
Deloitte says companies are increasingly concentrating on resilience through automation, digital transformation and supply-chain diversification, while directing investment towards productivity, technology and capability building. Rather than abandoning investment altogether, CFOs appear to be demanding a clearer operational return from each project.
The survey also suggests that large-scale expansion projects may face a tougher approval environment. With most CFOs unwilling to increase balance-sheet risk and fewer than one in three planning higher capital expenditure, investments requiring significant upfront capital are likely to face closer financial scrutiny.
Deloitte characterises the current strategy as a shift towards leaner and more resilient operating models, resembling the defensive response seen during the pandemic and the 2022 energy crisis, but with unusually broad agreement across European markets.
The survey was carried out in March and April 2026 among CFOs in Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
