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Business Expansion & New Markets 2009
CEO Survey results - financing
| Excluding an ongoing line of credit, how likely is your organization to seek or extend a bank loan or other form of financing during 2009? | |||
| 2008 | 2007 | Change from 2007 (% pts.) |
|
| Very likely | 25% | 20% | +5 |
| Somewhat likely | 19 | 17 | +2 |
| Not very likely | 53 | 61 | -8 |
| Don’t know/not sure | 3 | 2 | +1 |
 |
Terry W. Stiles
Stiles Corporation
Chairman and CEO
Fort Lauderdale
We are seeing good projects today that cannot get financing. These are companies with proven track records. Two major projects that we were ready to go to work on have been put on the shelf until the financial market corrects itself. That’s $200 million that’s on hold. We laid off a substantial number of people a month ago, the biggest one-time lay-off in my 30-plus years with the company. We had expanded into Atlanta and Nashville some years ago, but when we analyzed our strengths, we recognized that our brand in Florida is one of our greatest assets, plus we know Florida very well. So our focus is going to be on reinforcing the five Florida markets we’re located in. South Florida is still the most dynamic market. It’s the gateway to international trade. Yes, we’re in a down cycle, but we will come out of it.
