AXA IM's Thomas: UK commerce will continue in event of 'hard' Brexit

UK Select Opps fund overweight services sector

Nigel Thomas, manager of the £3.7bn AXA Framlington UK Select Opportunities fund, has defended his UK Services sector overweight, arguing that "commerce will continue" regardless of the UK's vote to leave the EU in June.

Despite a "knee-jerk reaction" to June's Brexit vote, which triggered a number of additional stimulus measures by the Bank of England, Thomas said commerce will continue unaffected, as the services sector was never truly open to free movement across the EU. As a result, he said secular growth trends in the service sector, such as the increasing use of technology, are also unlikely to be affected by the vote. "With the Brexit die cast, we have uncertainty as to whether it is a hard die or a soft die. The four freedoms of the European Union - free movement of capital, people, goods and ...