“Pound sterling will continue to rise”

The pound sterling in the short-term will continue to gain value against the euro which has significantly under performed and is now worth 30 percent less than when it was first launched. This was the verdict from the team from SG Hambros who were in Majorca yesterday for an asset management and estate planning presentation seminar at the luxury Marriott Hotel in Llucmajor. John Loveless, Managing Director of Hambros Trust Company said that the Channel Islands continued to attract a substantial amount of business and with stock-markets continuing to be buoyant the future was bright. He said that technically speaking the Channel Islands were not part of the European Union and therefore they would be unaffected by calls from some parts of the continent to end the Channel Island's special offshore situation. The same cannot be said for the euro, although the Hambros team, did say that now was the time to take advantage of the pound and dollar's strength against the single currency. “I think if I was managing the euro account and it fell by 30 percent in value I am sure my investors would have something to say,” said Andy Hartwell, SG Securities' Chief UK Strategist. He said that now was not the time for Britain to join the single currency. He said that in the long-run the European currency would regain some value but in the short-term it still faced a choppy ride both in the financial markets and politically.