FOUR out of five of Europe's top companies have not estimated the costs of adapting to EMU, a survey has found.

Only 8 per cent of the 301 major European companies surveyed had allocated a budget to pay for EMU changes, the survey, by KPMG management consulting, found. Each of the companies surveyed employs more than 5,000 people and has a headquarters in an EU member state.

Ninety eight per cent of those surveyed believed the country in which they were based would join EMU at some stage, with over half believing this would be by the earliest possible entry date - 1999.

The survey also found that companies were more concerned with "minimising the costs of implementation" rather than "identifying and exploiting new business opportunities".

Few respondents acknowledged the impact EMU would have on their international marketing strategies. Mr Vicky Pryce, chief economist with KPMG, said EMU would make it difficult to sell goods at different prices in different countries, as was often the case at the moment.