ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN “ADVISER POINTS OF VIEW” in August 2018:

“Phil Organ, Investment Manager and Associate Director of Yorkshire-based wealth management firm, Leodis Wealth says: “As [the prospect] of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit looms, that uncertainty is likely to cause share prices in companies that trade with Europe (and in Europe that trade with the UK) to suffer. As such we need to position client’s portfolios more cautiously now rather than wait to see what happens.

“Trade, both physical, and in services is the most important area for our client’s investments. We take frictionless trade with Europe for granted. That would no longer be the case. Infrastructure (customs, ports, airports, road and rail) is built to handle goods passing straight through.

“Companies handling goods have the logistics in place to deal with this. If goods are held up at the point of entry to and from the UK this will be a severe challenge and potentially very costly. For companies operating on high volume and thin margins, this could be very bad.

“There would be an increase in consumer prices as tariffs under the rules of the World Trade Organisation became payable. Some if not all of the cost would be passed through the chain to the consumer, not helped by a potential shortage of goods due to the hold-ups in transportation. The consequent inflationary impact could hurt bond markets and in turn share prices. Our job is to try to minimise client’s exposure to those areas most likely to be affected.”

In relation to Leodis’ clients, Organ says: “We invest our client’s portfolios globally and indeed the share prices of UK listed companies with global businesses tend to rise as sterling falls – the translation of their profits back into sterling from overseas is enhanced. So there are ways to mitigate the ‘no deal’ threat.”