The tournament had no effect on 78 percent of Polish SMEs Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The expected financial benefits of Euro 2012 did not materialize for many businesses in Poland. In most cases the tournament did not have an influence on businesses’ profits, and, when it did, in many cases this influence was negative, according to a new survey of business owners by Keralla Research.

The tournament did not have an effect on 78 percent of Polish SMEs, while Euro 2012 improved the results of only 10 percent, according to the poll. The championship caused 11 percent to incur losses, the research institute found.

“Before the tournament, entrepreneurs announced that they expected a strong financial impetus from the tournament. Unfortunately, it turns out they were disappointed,” Izabella Młynarczyk, development director at Keralla Research, told Puls Biznesu.

In addition, 60 percent of respondents said that they did not expect the aftereffects of Euro 2012 to have a beneficial impact on their future export levels. The same proportion also thought the economic situation in Poland had worsened in the last three months.

Katarzyna Pydych, the general director at Keralla Research, said that the disappointment is the result of a three-year-long campaign led by the Polish government, which unduly raised SME owners’ expectations.

“For the past three years, small, micro and medium-sized businesses have been repeatedly told that the tournament would be an amazing opportunity for growth. In reality many of these enterprises remained unaffected by the tournament, and some even noted losses, due to many locals leaving their cities and towns for the duration of Euro 2012,” she said.

Some 4.7 percent of surveyed business owners said that they remained positive about the current economic situation in Poland.