Santander's Ashby: Political uncertainty biggest risk to UK market

Political uncertainty remains big risk

Graham Ashby, head of UK equities at Santander Asset Management, has said a low interest rate environment will remain beneficial for the asset class but political uncertainty poses the biggest risk.

The manager, who runs around £1.5bn in UK equities, said he is not bearish yet on the outlook for the UK, unlike other investors, pointing to an uptick in company profitability and undervalued sterling. "Valuations are full but profit margins are increasing and asset utilisations are becoming more efficient, which combined offer better cashflow returns," he said. "Sterling feels undervalued but what is going to change sentiment towards that? There is a fundamental undervaluation but predicting investor sentiment is very difficult." Furthermore, Ashby said the low interest rate envi...