Region’s stock market performance seeing slow recovery
Public companies registered in the West Midlands are experiencing the second slowest recovery of all the regions when it comes to the value of their share price.
According to data from Stockopedia.com, stock market valuations have fluctuated throughout 2020 as economies and investors worldwide react to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While some companies have experienced an uplift in financial performance during COVID-19, many more have struggled to stay afloat.
Stockopedia.com, the stock market research service, has analysed its market data to compare the average share price performance of publicly listed companies in the English regions and the biggest UK cities over the course of 2020.
In all, there are 47 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange that are based in the West Midlands. Collectively, their share price value dropped by 35.99 percent at the end of March when the first national lockdown was in place and values have yet to recover to pre pandemic levels. In Q4, share price values in the West Midlands remain down by 20.37 percent compared to year start.
Only one company in the West Midlands has seen its share price value go up across all quarters of 2020 despite the challenges of the pandemic and dips in market confidence – software development company Dev Clever Holdings in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
Its stock market performance peaked at the end of Q3 at 545 percent higher than it was on 1st January 2020.
Tandem Group – a British-based designer, developer, distributor and retailer of sports, leisure and mobility products based in Birmingham – has also performed impressively over the course of 2020 despite a short-lived drop in share price value at the end of Q1 (-23.6 percent). Its share price value peaked in Q4 at +225 percent compared to year start.
By comparison, the worst hit region is the North East, with the collective share price value of its listed companies down -23.72 percent in Q4 compared to January 2020. This figure has improved slightly from Q3 (-25.98 percent), but it remains significantly lower than other regions, even in the North of England:
Public companies in the East of England have seen the best stock market performance compared to pre-pandemic levels (+1.46 percent).
The East of England is the only English region to see an increase in the average share price of its registered companies over the course of 2020 and show positive signs of a recovery in Q4 – albeit minimal.
Companies in the East of England also saw the least dramatic (but still a considerable) fall in average share price value at the end of March (down -24.09 percent). The South West and West Midlands saw the largest declines, down by –38.73 percent and –39.55 percent respectively.
The East of England is home to both Tesco and Ocado Group which have benefited significantly from increased spending on groceries and the boom in online shopping during the pandemic.
The East of England also has several listed healthcare and technology companies registered in the region, helping to offset declines in other sectors’ share prices, such as EasyJet in Luton and JD Wetherspoon in Watford.
The East Midlands is ranked second place, with the share prices of listed companies in the region performing on average -9.91 percent lower than on 1st January 2020.
London and the South West closely follow in third and fourth place, with performance down by -10.32 percent and -10.94 percent respectively. London, by far, has the most publicly listed companies on the London Stock Exchange (565) across a diverse set of industries.
Edward Croft, CEO of Stockopedia.com, said: “Covid-19 brought the most volatile stock market environment we’ve seen in years, and with it some clear sector winners and losers. But the virus has also been hitting some regions harder and longer than others. This study shows the impact this has had on the typical company’s share price across regions, and the regional disparity is clear to see.”
