Todd Barlow, chief executive of the $11 billion investment house Washington H Soul Pattinson, isn’t surprised by the storm clouds gathering over global markets. The big shock is that they’ve taken so long to arrive.

Barlow delivered yet another set of strong full-year results on Thursday, with the net asset value of the group’s portfolio – which spans listed equities, private equity, private credit, property and also includes large, long-term holdings in a series of big listed companies such as coal giant New Hope Corporation and building materials and property group Brickworks – rising 8.8 per cent, or 12.3 per cent if dividends were reinvested. That was 1.2 per cent better than the return from the All Ordinaries accumulation index over the same period.