Jupiter chief predicts series of shocks to UK
JUPITER chief executive Edward Bonham Carter yesterday sounded a warning note on the fragility of the economic recovery, predicting a series of shocks over the coming months which could plunge the UK back into recession at any time.
Bonham Carter, who pulled off a coup in June by floating Jupiter successfully on the LSE in torrid market conditions, said he was not being overly cautious but simply realistic.
“Volatility isn’t necessarily a bad thing – we may see reasonable economic growth in the coming quarters and the whole situation may turn out better than expected,” he told City A.M.
“But over the next year the UK will still be working off the balance sheet excesses built up over the last decade, and when you de-gear, it acts as a dampener on growth…I think the most likely scenario is a “corrugated” recovery – a series of dips – though whether any or all of those dips will be negative is very hard to predict.”
Jupiter yesterday unveiled an impressive performance over the first half of the year. The firm swung to a pre-tax profit of £14.6m, from a loss of £6.5m in the first half of 2009; grew assets under management by 27.7 per cent to £19.8bn since June last year; and recorded net inflows of £814m.