Intrum said that in Portugal, 54 percent of companies feared that a weakened European Union would have a negative effect on their businesses.
Apart from Portugal, Greece (50 percent), Ireland (45 percent) and the Czech Republic (42 percent) were the other countries that were most fearful of Brexit.
Out of the 20 countries in the inquiry, only Norway thought the impact of the UK leaving Europe would be more positive than negative, but by a small margin.
“The apprehension of Portuguese companies is natural, but this negative posture regarding Brexit will tend to diminish over time. On the other hand, although most of the European companies that were asked, considered that Brexit would not have an impact on their businesses, the European Payment Report 2018 also showed that the most pessimistic countries considered that the impact would be mainly negative”, the director general of Intrum Portugal, Luís Salvaterra, said in a statement.