Many Top Execs Say Asia Crisis Will Affect Profit Picture, Survey Shows

Leading U.S. company executives said the financial crisis in Asia will make the environment for profits tougher this year compared with 1997, according to a survey by the U.S. Business Council.

About 64% of the 101 company chiefs surveyed said they see the environment for profits as more difficult in 1998, according to the survey of top executives of the nation’s largest companies.

About 32% said they expected the environment to be the same as last year, and 4% said they expected their companies to be untouched by the Asian financial crisis.

About 80 of the 164 members of the Business Council are meeting privately in Washington and will hear from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin today.

Of the executives surveyed, on average 10% of their companies’ revenues come from sales in Asia.

The Business Council is a group of U.S. business leaders who meet several times a year to exchange ideas and meet with government officials. The survey was conducted this month.