Balance sheet repair process has been impressively swift

The rally is well established. Small and mid caps have been at the forefront of this bull market which was ignited by the recent panic slashing of interest rates - sorry I mean concerted monetary easing to head off the 2008/09 world banking crisis.

The market response has followed the pattern of the aftermath of Britain’s unceremonious departure from the European Monetary System of 1992 and of the Long Term Capital Management Crisis in 1998. On those occasions, the FTSE 250 mid-cap index rallied around 85% in the 18 months from the bottom. Using this analogy, we have made about two-thirds of the appreciation. The crisis, as well as destroying balance sheets in the banking sector, caught many companies in the more cyclical sectors with their trousers down financially.  The balance sheet repair process in the UK has been impressively...