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The Monthly: May 2018

02 May 2018 / Corporate research

Feature article:

Defensive stocks – the mixed record over the last decade

By Nigel Hawkins, Hardman & Co Analyst

Prior to the financial crisis of 2008/09, it was widely believed in the stock market that certain sectors – most notably utilities, pharmaceuticals, food retailing and tobacco – were far less vulnerable to market downturns.

The reality has been very different, as the figures below indicate, with three of the FTSE-100 companies under review – BT Group (especially over the last 18 months), Centrica and Tesco – enduring a desperately difficult decade.

It is fair to ask how this long-standing market shibboleth – part of stock market folklore for generations – has been tarnished.

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