Investors continue to wait for market upturn

6 February 2003

Private investors are hanging back from investment decisions in the hope of a recovery in the market this year, according to the ComPeer quarterly survey published today.

The latest report on private investor activity shows that 82 per cent of investors with paper shares did not trade at all in the fourth quarter of 2002, nor did 86 per cent of those holding shares electronically.

APCIMS Chief Executive Angela Knight said:

“The fourth quarter is historically the slowest of the year, but it is the economic uncertainty coupled with the prospect of war that is clearly making it difficult to enthuse investors.

“As dividends, statements and valuations still have to be made, firms are increasingly having to apply some account maintenance fees or custody charges.”

Key figures of the ComPeer quarterly survey of private client activity include:

• the APCIMS/ComPeer quarterly index of private client activity fell from 174 in Q3 2002 to 169 in Q4 - the lowest level since Q4 1996;
• private client trading volumes fell by 4.76 per cent on the previous quarter; and
  
• online trading volumes remained stable at around 500,000 trades per quarter.

Notes to editors

1. APCIMS, the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers, represents the overwhelming majority of private client stockbrokers and investment managers in the UK, and through them the more than 12 million individual shareholders in the UK. In April 2003 it merged with the European Association of Securities Dealers (EASD), to develop a pan-European forum to address the concerns of investment firms.
2. ComPeer was launched in May 1993 to provide competitor benchmarking services. Its reputation has been formed by the widely acclaimed Survey of Private Client Stockbroking and Fund Management which now has 84 participants.
   
3. The APCIMS/ComPeer Private Client Activity Index charts the numbers of bargains conducted for private clients every quarter.
   

For further information call

Kevin Sloane, Head of Information, APCIMS (office 020 7247 7080; mobile 07917 406939; email kevins@apcims.co.uk)