The vast majority of companies that do business across multiple countries believe that a prospective UK exit from the European Union would be damaging to them.

A survey from Ipsos Mori of international businesses from seven countries revealed that 78 per cent believe the consequences of a possible Brexit following the referendum on June 23rd would be negative.

In total, 667 online interviews were conducted among businesses with UK operations from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and China, with only five per cent believing that a vote for the UK to leave the EU would be good for their business.

Among those saying the impact would be negative, 44 per cent think the impact would be very negative, compared to 34 per cent who believe it would be fairly negative. Moreover, 61 per cent said Brexit would have a negative effect on likely future investment in the UK, compared to five per cent taking the opposite view.

This comes after another recent Ipsos Mori study showed that 49 per cent of Europeans in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden believe the UK will vote to leave the EU, compared to only 35 per cent of Britons who believe this to be the case.

Bobby Duffy, managing director of the Ipsos Mori Social Research Institute, said: "Having heard so much about 'Project Fear' and the risks of leaving, it's interesting to see that internationally, the more common view is that the UK would suffer less than the EU from the break-up.

"For Europeans, this possibly flows from their feelings about their own country's relationship with the EU - they tend to feel there is likely to be a ripple effect following the UK vote."