29 December 2014

The research team at Brewin Dolphin reflect on their top six surprises from the past year.

Guy Foster, Group Head of Research at Brewin Dolphin said: "2014 has been a year of change and the sheer fall of oil and iron ore prices, the collapse in Russia's fortunes and Tesco's accounting irregularities have surprised us all."

Gilts

Few anticipated that there would continue to be so many buyers of bonds relative to other asset classes. Investors seem unperturbed and unconstrained by the poor returns on offer, with historically low yields and still falling.

Russia

Russia's status collapsed as it went from host of the Winter Olympics, which celebrates international sportsmanship, to global pariah. Russia's fall from grace has undone a decade of economic reform and returned her long suffering people to face their seemingly terminal fate of high inflation and low growth.

Tesco

Whilst a decline in sales performance by the major supermarkets was expected in the wake of rapid gains by Aldi and Lidl, the magnitude of the decline and the significant impact on profitability of Tesco in particular took the market by surprise. The discovery of accounting irregularities shocked everyone and compounded the issue.

Standard Chartered

An organisation that was once a beacon of probity has truly stalled beset by three profit warnings, growth challenges and credit woes.

Budget

George Osborne's surprise Spring Budget announcement certainly caught the life insurers on the back foot. Many are attempting to adjust their business models in time for April next year when the main changes take place. Retirees will be able to draw as much of their pension as they wish at their marginal rate of tax after taking their 25% tax-free lump sum. We continue to like those companies which were well placed going into the reforms and those which have the versatility to weather the changes.

Iron ore

We were not surprised by the direction; however the sheer magnitude of the falls in iron ore prices were rather astonishing. Supply growth was better than expected while demand growth was lacking, resulting in a larger surplus than we and the market were forecasting for 2014.

 -ENDS-

Important information

The value of investments can fall and you may get back less than you invested.

Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the views held throughout Brewin Dolphin Ltd. No Director, representative or employee of Brewin Dolphin Ltd accepts liability for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this document or its contents.

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