One of the first things you will probably notice as you read this e-mail is that we have not changed the livery of the business as yet, and that is because the restructuring that we had hoped would be completed at the beginning of April, has in fact been delayed a little as we get all of the legal and regulatory details finalised. I am hopeful however, that this will complete before the end of the month and that in my next News Letter, I will be able to confirm this to you.
Behind the scenes, I have been preparing all of the compliance documentation in the new Company style and also, we have been working on a new website, which again, we are hoping can go live within the next couple of weeks and I will let you have those details as soon as the site is ready to view.
I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised by the complexities of getting of all of our ducks in a row – as always, the devil is in the detail!
With the Easter weekend upon us, I think this is just about as late in the year as it can be and for once, it looks as though the English weather is going to give us a fairly decent Bank holiday weekend – mind you, having voiced that opinion now, let’s hope that I haven’t jinxed it!
As the problems continue in Ukraine and Russia refocuses its efforts on the east of the country, our thoughts and prayers go out once again to the local residents and all those affected by the conflict. The stoicism of the Ukrainian people and their determination to defend their country has been phenomenal and I just hope that matters can be resolved diplomatically, although sadly, this does not look likely in the near future.
Whilst it’s fair to say, the conflict is still having some impact on markets globally, the influence has been nowhere near as great as that arising from Covid 2 years ago and in fact, over the course of the least month, we have seen markets starting to show signs of recovery.
Over the last 3 months, many people will have been receiving 10% warning letters from their Investment Managers, confirming where fund values have dropped by 10% or more since the last valuation point. This in itself, is a regulatory requirement and to my mind, it’s not particularly helpful because it will make people potentially more nervous, when in fact, it’s part of the cyclical nature of market movements.
We have of course, seen a bit more extreme movement in the last 2 years, with the impact of both Covid and the Ukrainian situation, but nonetheless, markets do respond to these things and then have a habit of bouncing back in due course. This is their cyclical nature at work.
Ironically, the Regulator does not insist that letters are sent out to tell people when their investments have gone up by more than 10% since the last valuation, but then that’s the nature of regulation I guess!
As always, we are taking the medium and longer term view and therefore, the short-term volatility and reduced market values is not something to be majorly concerned about and as mentioned above, the cyclical nature will ensure that over time, funds do recover.
Apart from the impact of Covid and the Ukrainian situation, the effects of inflation are not going to disappear anytime soon, and this is exacerbated by the supply chain issues that are manifesting, not the least of which, in the fuel sector at the present time.
The bigger picture though still suggests that there is growth and capital recovery ahead and therefore we just need to weather the short term turbulence in markets and as one of the Investment Managers we work with commented this week, ‘The mood music in Stock Markets is turning increasingly pejorative when it comes to the prospect of economic growth in the next 12 months.’ He goes on to comment that this is against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis and the Central Banks becoming more aggressive in their desire to control inflation and as always, it just a matter of time and timing, so perhaps I’ll close this with a quote from Winston Churchill, who said ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.’
As I look out the window, the sun is shining, the evenings are getting longer and the woods are full of bluebells, so best wishes for Easter and we will keep in touch.
Best wishes from all at RAFP