Keynote SpeakerMark Berrisford-Smith

Biography

Popular Talks by Mark Berrisford-Smith

• Outlook for the global and UK economies

  This presentation starts with a quick run-through of global developments, focusing especially on trends in commodity prices, what’s happening to the major economies, how everybody else is getting on with tackling inflation, and following on from that, where they are in the interest rate cycle. It then moves on to… Read more

  This presentation starts with a quick run-through of global developments, focusing especially on trends in commodity prices, what’s happening to the major economies, how everybody else is getting on with tackling inflation, and following on from that, where they are in the interest rate cycle. It then moves on to the UK, discussing why our recovery has been so poor, how consumers have fought back against the “cost of living crisis” by bidding up their wages, and why the labour market remains so tight. That leads us to the outlook for inflation, and hence interest rates. If required, he can round off with a brief detour into the prospects for sterling, and also say something about the corporate landscape.

  A useful variant is to increase the global content, and to reduce the UK portion. This works well for events put on by global organisations, such as the international networks run by accountants and lawyers, where the majority of the audience represent their offices around the world, but where there is a sizeable UK-based minority. In that case, finishing up with half a dozen UK slides works quite well, while it’s fairly easy to generate some responses from the international attendees when they see how badly we’re doing.

• Farming and food

  Brief global presentation followed by the relevance to farming and food sectors in the UK, and concentrating on the prospects for borrowing costs and sterling’s exchange rate. With some additional content on the global commodity markets for agricultural products, the demand and supply balances, trends in UK farm profitability, and… Read more

  Brief global presentation followed by the relevance to farming and food sectors in the UK, and concentrating on the prospects for borrowing costs and sterling’s exchange rate. With some additional content on the global commodity markets for agricultural products, the demand and supply balances, trends in UK farm profitability, and maybe material on food exports and imports, which is a topic which is guaranteed to get audience participation and comment.

• Corporate distress – “The zombie apocalypse”

  This keynote is based on requests focused on corporate turnaround and recovery. Mark would present a shortened version of the standard presentation, but embellish it with material on the corporate landscape, talking about profitability, failure rates, debt levels, and so on. The gist is that failure rates are high, and… Read more

  This keynote is based on requests focused on corporate turnaround and recovery. Mark would present a shortened version of the standard presentation, but embellish it with material on the corporate landscape, talking about profitability, failure rates, debt levels, and so on. The gist is that failure rates are high, and likely to remain so until interest rates fall. Companies went into this difficult period with a relatively low burden of debt (unlike the late 1980s and 2000s), but have suffered from declining profitability in recent years. As time wears on they are falling victim to high borrowing costs, as well as director burn- out. A good title for such a talk would be “Zombie apocalypse”, with many of the current crop of failures being firms that were kept alive by cheap finance by ever-eager banks during the 2010s.

• Gazing into the crystal ball

  This keynote is based on presentations that look a bit further into the future. These could be adjuncts to a shortened version of the standard offering or stand-alone talks. A UK- focused version might be titled “Dealing with our debts” and would discuss the parless state of the public finances;… Read more

  This keynote is based on presentations that look a bit further into the future. These could be adjuncts to a shortened version of the standard offering or stand-alone talks. A UK- focused version might be titled “Dealing with our debts” and would discuss the parless state of the public finances; how long it will take to get things sorted out; and the tough choices that will be needed along the way. Another variant that would cover some of the same ground might be titled “How to get Britain growing again”, and would deal with the vexed issues of near-zero growth of productivity, and the fraught choices about population growth.
  An international version could be titled “Debt and demography – why the next 30 years won’t be like the last 30 years”, and will focus on ageing populations, high debt levels (it’s not just a British problem), as well as increased protectionism and deteriorating geopolitical relations.

• Sundries

  This keynote includes the UK’s trade performance and trends, foreign direct investment flows, and the “green transition”. The basic structure of such a presentation would begin by explaining the “glide path” to Net Zero; how we’re doing (okay so far)’ and the hard choices that still need to be made.… Read more

  This keynote includes the UK’s trade performance and trends, foreign direct investment flows, and the “green transition”. The basic structure of such a presentation would begin by explaining the “glide path” to Net Zero; how we’re doing (okay so far)’ and the hard choices that still need to be made. It would focus on the UK, and more on the business and technology aspects, rather than the fund management and financial aspects, which can be quite complicated.

How to book Mark Berrisford-Smith as a keynote speaker