As an Englishman, David Haines is not afraid of being infected by German angst. Even so, the chief executive of Grohe, a private-equity owned producer of sanitary fittings, has become markedly more pessimistic recently. “Times will get tougher – a lot tougher than they are right now,” he says.
As global growth slows, German exporters cannot escape the fallout of the financial crisis. The latest data pointed to a dramatic weakening in the third quarter. Orders – an indicator of likely future trends in activity – fell in July for the eighth consecutive month.
