Support and oil services boost UK small-caps

UK small-cap sector is boosted by support services and engineering stocks, although managers predict that tougher challenges lie ahead

Support and oil service companies have helped boost returns among the top-performing UK Smaller Companies funds, with three of the top five managers in the sector citing them as positive contributors to performance. Old Mutual's Dan Nickols, whose UK Select Smaller Companies ranked first out of 48 funds, returning 131.18% over the three-year period, said stocks in support services and engineering have performed well for the fund These include Connaught, a company providing repair and maintenance services for social housing. "It is relatively economically insensitive as the budgets are...