Many companies bracing for possible end of euro

THEY may not admit it, but right now, financial managers in many firms are hedging their bets, and are busy trying to construct scenarios to assess just how the world might look in the event of a break up of the euro zone.

The head of Standard Chartered bank sees a growing likelihood of one or more countries leaving the eurozone, telling the Sunday Telegraph that political leaders have yet to offer a meaningful solution to the bloc’s debt crisis.

“We enter 2012 with a very difficult outlook for the euro zone . . . with an increasing possibility of countries actually leaving the euro zone,” Peter Sands, chief executive of the Asia-focused bank said.