Rising income stars clash with Woodford on BP

Rising UK equity income stars at M&G and OMAM have challenged Invesco Perpetual's Neil Woodford on his negative view of BP.

Woodford said last week he continues to shun BP, as well as Shell, because both businesses face material challenges from the soaring cost of production. However, up and coming stars at M&G and Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) are backing the stock to outperform. Alex Odd, running the £528m M&G Dividend fund since July 2010, said BP owns assets the market has not properly valued, giving him confidence to overweight the stock. "BP's problems are ongoing, but underlying that you have a fantastic asset base," he says. "If you talk to peers they will mention BP's asset base. It is ma...