Hendersons Global Investors has offered its outlook for the global economy in the coming year and has suggested there will be very little growth across 2012 at all.
Noting that the UK has hit a soft patch, the group explained that this has not been helped by the weak demand being seen from the rest of Europe and the little room that is available for the country to stimulate the economy.
However, it noted there are a range of positive factors coming through which could help the global markets to see some good news and could assist with bringing about growth in the future.
It suggested the companies which it invests in are in a good position to see growth and while the public sector is experiencing a contraction, the opposite situation is the case for the private sector.
One way in which the private sector is growing is that the best class businesses are starting to see orders coming in from overseas.
"We need to keep our focus on those companies with genuine competitive advantage, strong balance sheets and managements which are not afraid to take risks and invest. In return we should expect continued dividend growth, as payout ratios are low, and further buybacks, as more cash is returned to shareholders," the company explained in its forecast statement.
It added that as valuations are now reflecting recessionary economic conditions, it could be that there are better than expected corporate results that may persuade investors to increase their equity investments.
BlackRock also recently offered its predictions for the global economy in 2012, suggesting there would be a slow rate of growth seen across the year, although it noted the US was seeing a strong rate of growth that that was unlikely to be replicated by the European markets any time soon.
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