THE risks of a no-deal Brexit have “certainly increased” and such a scenario would likely put the pound and domestic UK equities under pressure, the portfolio manager of Securities Trust of Scotland has warned.
Mark Whitehead sounded the warning as Securities Trust, run by Edinburgh investment house Martin Currie, unveiled an 11.4 per cent total return on net asset value for the year to March 31.
This was ahead of the total return of 8.5% achieved by the international investment trust’s peer group. Securities Trust had net assets of £191 million at March 31.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Very British bravado on Brexit from Johnson fuels fears for UK future
Rachel Beagles, who chairs Securities Trust of Scotland, flagged slowing global growth and US-China trade tensions, as well as Brexit uncertainties.
She said: “The year under review has been characterised by increasing volatility as the period progressed, as markets responded to the evidence of slowing global growth against a backdrop of tightening monetary conditions. This unappealing cocktail was further spiked by the threat of increased trade barriers, whether Brexit-related, or those of a US-China trade war.
“Consequently, whilst the overall total returns achieved were good, almost all of the return achieved in the year was made in the first half.”
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Pound on ropes with no sign of sorry Brexit circus packing up soon
Mr Whitehead said: “In Europe, Brexit is now delayed to October 31. Much will depend on who becomes the next UK prime minister and what their stance will be regards this date being immovable.”
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Paris metro poster for slapstick British farce evokes Brexit metaphor
He added: “The risks have certainly increased that Britain could be heading for a no-deal Brexit. Were this to be the case we would likely see pressure on sterling and UK domestic equities.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here