BlackRock warned yesterday that it sees volatility in UK and European assets ahead of the UK vote expected at the end of June on whether to leave the European Union.
In a report entitled “Big risk, Little Reward”, the US asset manager said of a British exit from the EU that “[our] overarching view from an investor’s perspective: the likely negative impact on the UK economy is more concrete than any speculative long-term positives”, with the impact on trade and investment inflows the most important. The report said that property prices would be negatively affected by the UK leaving the EU, although it did not specify agricultural property.
However, leading European environmental policy researcher Allan Buckwell warned last month that leaving the EU could constrain investment in UK agriculture, depress producer profitability and temporarily push down farmland prices, as Agri Investor reported.
The BlackRock report also noted that “sterling is most vulnerable to Brexit fears” with implications for UK focused companies, as BlackRock “[expects] large cap overseas earners to outperform as sterling falls.”
The fund manager joins a growing chorus of voices from within the industry expressing their thoughts on the consequences of the UK staying in or exiting Europe.
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