UK investors lose £48 billion

Millions of private investors in the UK have seen a total of £48 billion lost from their portfolios since the advent of the credit crunch that hit the country in the summer of 2007.

Investments by those looking for returns on favourite brands, or who looked at privatised stocks, took the worst hits but those who put their money in more obscure oil companies, or mining stocks, have reaped the rewards of their research.

With research showing a total of £209 billion invested in private stocks in May 2007, a fall to £161 billion by July this year represents a drop of colossal proportions.
    

Few stocks sold

With values dropping like lead weights, sales of only £1 billion were recorded in the year up to July as investors opt to hold on in the hope of a resurgence rather than cutting their losses and leaving the market. With the house price market in a dire state, and a further £400 billion wiped off personal wealth levels from that arena, consumer confidence in the UK has reached a desperate state and spending is falling month by month.

Analysts have described 2008 as a ‘poor year for small investors’, and particularly badly hit have been those who were recipients of shares in demutualisation deals. Financial stocks have been the worst performers in the face of the market decline.
    

Household names fail to reap rewards

Investors reliance on household names appears to have been costly, with the big market names being the worst hit in the current market as a result of the reduction in consumer spending, and popular brands such as British Airways and Marks and Spencer have been performing badly in the market.

Investors who purchased over £1.5 billion in energy stocks – oil and gas – plus mining industries between August 2007 and March this year have reaped great rewards, however, as the energy commodities rocketed to 23 percent up, in may, on the previous July, and mining shares an astonishing 57 percent in the same period. A total of £1.2 billion in natural resource stocks was sold in May this year, with the market at the highest point, and another £350 million the next month. Profit on these stocks is estimated at £230 million over the year to July.

Retail investments have had a harder time, with fears of the credit crunch instigating a selling cycle a couple of years ago and banks and industrials, as well as consumer service industries, falling out of favour with investors.