Best_Performing_Sectors

The best and worst performing sectors of 2010 Through most of January, the FTSE 350 index fell. In fact, at the end of the month the index was lower than it is now. February and March saw a steady rally as recovery hopes grew – but that was derailed as the euro crisis prompted a renewed flight to safety. Investors feared that sovereign debt contagion could spread and the FTSE 350 is now 10pc below the peak seen on April 15. The index is now down 3pc on the year, with most of the 18 sectors in the index performing more or less in line. However, there are one or two exceptions. Here is a review of the best and worst performing of these sectors since the start of 2010.   Weir Group's hydro power plant in British Columbia, Canada. The company had a good start to the year, as it targets growth in emerging markets. Photo: Newscast Domino's Pizza has benefited from people staying at home during the recession Photo: Reuters The chips in Apple's iPad are believed to be based on ARM technology ' and the company's shares have benefited significantly from this Photo: AP Prudential's shares have been under pressure because of Tidjane Thiam's controversial plan to buy AIG's Asian assets BP has had almost 30pc of its market capitalisation wiped away by the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico Photo: Reuters National Grid's shares have slid significantly since it launched a rights issue to invest in its UK transmission business Industrial & Engineering: +19pc The FTSE 350 Industrial and Engineering sector is the runaway winner so far this year.   The index has eight companies within it, with the highest weighted being engineering group IMI, at 22pc of the index. This is followed by Weir Group (20.9pc), Rotork (12.7pc), Charter International (12.5pc) and Melrose (11.9pc). Spirax-Sarco, Bodycote and Fenner bring up the rear. It is not surprising that these cyclical companies have continued to recover from 2009 lows. The sector was heavily sold as investors feared the global economy was going to grind to a halt. The situation at IMI improved significantly at the start of the year, prompting a number of broker upgrades. The company is now expected to post record profits this year. Weir Group also had a good start to the year, as the company is targeting growth in emerging markets. The worst fears of investors in the gloom of March 2009 have not come to pass and companies in the sector are benefiting from their cost-cutting measures, which have left them leaner with a positive outlook for margins. However, after such strong gains, the sector could be vulnerable if fears of a double-dip recession emerge. Travel & Leisure: +12pc This sector contains 27 different shares, ranging from bookmakers to rail groups and airlines and food companies. It is the second-best performing sector in 2010, despite airlines being hit by the volcanic ash cloud and British Airways' high-profile battle with the union. The biggest constituent of the index is catering giant Compass, shares in which are sitting close to a nine-year high. Compass has a 22pc weighting in the index. This is followed by Carnival (12pc index weight) and Intercontinental Hotels (7.2pc). Compass has a defensive business and the market has rated the shares highly because of this. Fellow constituent Domino's Pizza continues to perform well. Transport shares such as Arriva have been supported by bid hopes, but this has been tempered by the performance of gambling shares. Technology: +11pc Even in troubled times, people just can't get enough of new technology. Apple's iPad has hit the shops in the first part of the year and software groups continue to develop innovative products. The biggest component of this index is Autonomy, with a weighting of 17.7pc. This is followed by ARM (13.6pc) and Sage (13pc). Autonomy, which has clever software that can manage all sorts of data, has been a FTSE superstar for a number of years and it has continued the charge ahead this year. ARM has also done very well out of Apple's iPad. The chips in the device, called the Apple A4, are believed to be based on ARM technology – and the shares have benefited significantly from this. Sage has the honour of being a survivor from the dotcom boom 10 years ago. The accountancy software group has been a steady performer so far this year. As businesses that have deferred spending on technology through the downturn restart their spending, the future for the sector remains bright. Insurance: -9pc Taking the wooden spoon for being the worst-performing sector of the year is insurance. However, it should not be too much of a surprise that the most influential company in this sector is Prudential, which has a 25.7pc weighting. The shares have been under pressure because of Tidjane Thiam's controversial plan to buy AIG's Asian assets and the consequent rights issue to fund the purchase. The drama is rumbling on, with many investors unsure whether it is the right move. Aviva, which has a 15.7pc weighting, has also seen its shares plunge over the past couple of months by about 20pc. Aviva is focusing on Europe rather than Asia Old Mutual (11.6pc) and Legal & General (8.7pc) have fared better, but the performance has not been spectacular. The sector is currently offering attractive yields, with Aviva's currently being in excess of 8pc. Oil & Gas: -8pc Oil majors entered 2010 with much better balance sheets than anyone expected. The oil price recovery has been strong and demand has risen. There is, of course, one reason that the sector has underperformed the market by so much – and that's BP. The company is so large that it makes up a staggering 34.2pc of the FTSE 350 oil and gas sector. The company has had almost 30pc of its market capitalisation wiped away by the oil-spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and the clean-up will continue for many months. Royal Dutch Shell actually has a larger weighting when its class A shares (23.7pc) and class B (17.5pc) shares are added together. It too has underperformed during the sovereign debt crisis as investors fretted over global growth – and its impact on energy demand. However, the good performance of oil-services groups such as Petrofac have helped by providing support. The performance of this sector for the rest of the year depends on two things – the fate of BP and the oil price. This means it is difficult to predict what is going to happen next. Utilities: -8pc The utility sector has been volatile over the past year or so, as a five-yearly pricing review was undertaken by the regulators last year and as investors fretted over the level of debt. However, yet again a plunge in once heavily-weighted shares has dragged the sector lower. Centrica is the most heavily weighted in the index, at 26.7pc. However, the group hitting the performance was National Grid, which has a 23.5pc influence on index movements. The company recently launched a rights issue to invest in its UK transmission business and the shares have slid significantly since this announcement was made. The investment is needed in the UK grid systems and Questor has advised readers to take up their rights. Other large companies in the sector include Scottish & Southern Energy (18.5pc) and International Power (8.4pc). Domino's Pizza to open more branches as success story continues • Total sales up 16% on the year • UK hosts eight out of 10 best outlets worldwide • Annual profits up 28% at £29.9m (6)Tweet this (14)Comments (7)Zoe Woodguardian.co.ukArticle historyThe Domino's Pizza success story rolls on. Photograph: Newscast Domino's Pizza today reported a 28% jump in annual profits as cold weather and recession put comfort food top of the menu. The Britain's Got Talent sponsor also benefited from the "SuBo" phenomenon as Susan Boyle drew a record number of viewers to the hit ITV show. Chief executive Chris Moore said the franchise pizza delivery group would now step up expansion to 55 stores after an "exceptional" year that saw like-for-like sales growth of 8.4%. "There is a strong desire for expansion by our existing franchisees as well as a significant number of new franchisees wishing to enter the system," he said. Domino's had already been planning to open 50 new stores a year, having been one of the big winners of the economic downturn. Many customers didn't even pick up the phone to order their Mighty Meaty or Vegetarian Supreme, with £78.5m of pizzas ordered online - a 40% increase on the previous year. Domino's also benefited from the recent cold snap with like-for-like sales up 11% in the first six weeks of this year - although Moore described the extreme weather as a "mixed blessing". "While encouraging people to stay at home, which is good for our business, the extent and severity of the conditions caused large numbers of stores to cease deliveries to protect driver safety," he said. Total sales at the UK group, which has 608 stores, were up 16% at £406.9m in the year to 27 December. Out of a network of nearly 9,000 Domino's outlets worldwide, eight out of the top 10 performing stores are here. During the year the company, which oversees the British and Irish franchise arm of the global brand, started entering smaller towns and Moore said the downturn meant it was able to secure "good properties at sensible rents". With annual profits up 28% at £29.9m the company lifted its dividend by a third to 7.75p per share. Investment Outlook December 17, 2009, 5:00PM EST text size: TT 2010 Investment Outlook (page 2 of 2) This Issue December 28, 2009 Buy' Sell' Pray' * Previous Issue * Next Issue   Related Items * Podcast: Behind the Story Caddy shopping in China: Luxury brands are selling well overseas Imaginechina via AP Images Story Tools * post a comment * e-mail this story * print this story * order a reprint * suggest a story * digg this * add to Business Exchange * linkedin connections The survey included 770 Americans as well as 158 international investors who had been recruited to participate in periodic online polls by Bloomberg BusinessWeek Research Services. Some things don't change quickly, though: Asked which stock market would produce the best returns over the next year, Americans were still more likely to pick the U.S. than any other country. Among foreign investors surveyed, the U.S. came in fourth after China, India, and Brazil. Those non-U.S. investors may be on to something. In comparison with the outlook in the recuperating U.S., prospects for growth are much stronger in Asia and in resource-rich nations such as Brazil, Canada, and Australia, where business confidence recently reached its highest level in seven years. "The U.S. economy, with all due respect, is not such a dominant part of the global economy as it used to be. We're going to have decoupling" of other countries from the U.S. in terms of economic performance, says Oded Shenkar, a professor at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business. The case for going global is even stronger if you believe that the dollar will sink in 2010. Returns on foreign stocks and bonds are worth more to Americans when the dollar falls against other currencies. The Federal Reserve has vowed to keep short-term interest rates extremely low until the U.S. economy gains strength, which may not be until summer or later. Low U.S. rates put downward pressure on the currency. Buying multinationals is an easy way to bet on global growth without mucking about in names you've never heard of. Not just any multinational will do, though. Makers of consumer staples that serve the growing markets of Asia and Latin America are a good bet for 2010, says Rajiv Jain, head of international equities for Vontobel Asset Management in New York. Diageo is one, of course. Others include Coca-Cola (KO), Nestlé, McDonald's (MCD), and BAT (BTI) (if owning a tobacco company doesn't bother you). Many of these companies have handsome dividend yields as well as price-earnings multiples that are historically low in comparison with those of growth stocks, Jain says. If you want even more exposure to growth in the developing world, try a company like Nestlé India—not a multinational, of course—which has had 11 consecutive quarters of strong revenue growth. "If you look at their numbers, you would never know there was a recession," says Jain. In contrast, this is not the best year to go all-in on an industrial renaissance. There is still massive overcapacity in manufacturing in the U.S. despite plant shutdowns and layoffs. China made its own excess of productive capacity worse when it staved off an economic slump by building plants, equipment, infrastructure, and housing. The tech sector should do somewhat better than general manufacturing because it enjoys shorter product cycles: If customers have any money at all, they tend to replace their computers and communications gear when the stuff becomes obsolete. Worldwide semiconductor sales rebounded more than 50% from their February 2009 lows through October, notes economist Edward Yardeni of Yardeni Research in Great Neck, N.Y. But tech stocks have risen a lot from their nadirs, so they're no great bargains at current prices. Banks and other financial companies don't look like good deals, either. They continue to be weighed down by weak loans and investments that were made during the go-go years. And the off-balance-sheet financing they once used to juice up their returns is now pretty much off limits, says Wasif Latif, an equity portfolio manager and a member of the asset allocation team of USAA, the San Antonio-based financial-services firm for the armed forces and veterans. Plus, financial stocks have risen a lot from their priced-for-Armageddon lows. It's been a crazy year. Somewhere out there is a hapless investor who stayed fully invested all through the crash, then finally capitulated and sold in early March, only to watch from the sidelines in horror as the Standard & Poor's 500 rebounded 65% through mid-December. To make sure that's not you in 2010, think hard about your investment choices so you can have the courage of your convictions. Make an investing plan and stick to it, advises Eileen Rominger, chief investment officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GS) in New York, which oversees about $850 billion of investments. "You need a solid foundation of knowing what you own and why you own it," Rominger says. "In this volatile environment, the temptation for investors to do the wrong thing at exactly the wrong point in time is tremendous." That's especially good advice if you're venturing for the first time into unfamiliar territory such as foreign stocks and bonds. It's a big world, with lots of opportunities. Don't let the strangeness frighten you away City Spy: Ebullio - the worst performing hedge fund of the year' 18.03.10 * More from the Standard's City Spy: Dunguib is still a bookies’ favourite at Cheltenham * Is Sheikh Mohammed richer than Carlos Slim' * Alistair Darling, Charlie Whelan and the forces of hell Ads by Google Clean Fuel Companies Investors and Industry Pioneers Stand to Make a Killing. New Report www.GreenChipStocks.com/CleanEnergy Trade Stocks Online Tőkeáttétel 80:1. Bónusz 5000 Ft. Nyisson Ingyenes Demó Számlát! www.plus500.com/hu Business Investments Start Business of Selling Consumables for Prininting.Today! www.ink-system.info Nexar Capital Group Asset Manager Focused on Alpha Creation www.nexarcap.com Ebullio Capital Management, based in Southend, has admitted its commodity fund fell 96% in the first two months of 2010 as it made heavy losses in copper, nickel and tin. In a newsletter to investors, company founder Lars Steffensen said: “February was the worst month in the history of the Ebullio Commodity Fund. Some extraordinary circumstances forced the Ebullio Commodity Fund to liquidate and/or cancel parts of the physical book and to liquidate some long held speculative positions. “Most managers would probably try to hush this up, but we have always been about transparency and having broadcast our winning months, we are going to do the same with our, albeit quite a lot more spectacular, losers and take the heat that comes with the territory.” ...but they are still confident!