9 out of 10 of the ‘Best Managed’ Irish companies plan to expand their business in the coming year.

The Deloitte survey finds that the UK and Europe are top locations for growth.

It also found that 80% of respondents plan to recruit in 2012 while half aim to complete mergers and acquisitions in the next 12 months.

The findings show that optimism is on the rise with indigenous Irish companies with half seeing an improvement in market conditions in the last 12 months.

Similarly 74% feel more confident about the outlook for their company compared to last year.

With regards to economic outlook 43% believe that it will be the second half of 2013 before the economy returns to growth.

Similar to results in 2011 31% indicated that improving consumer sentiment was the single most important factor in returning the economy to growth.

This was followed by restoring credibility and integrity in the banking sector, growth in exports and renegotiating the terms of the EU-IMF bailout which was at 12%.

71% of those surveyed anticipate that the December Budget will have a negative impact on their business but 64% think that on-balance austerity is a positive thing for the economy.