Colin McLean, managing director of Scottish Value Management, has warned that more companies are likely to be forced to follow the lead set by Boots, whose entire pension fund has switched out of equities and into fixed income securities.

McLean said that market falls have left big holes in pension funds which are set to be exposed in corporate annual reports as a result of new accounting standard FRS17. He is the first UK investment manager to go public on the negative impact that pension schemes could have on their sponsors.