Financials among Odey's winning themes for 2011

Crispin Odey has highlighted the financial sector as one of four key areas of the market he expects to outperform in the next one to two years.

The founder of Odey Asset Management and manager of the £74m INSYNERGY Odey fund says financials have been oversold and the lack of demand has pushed prices down. This low pricing combined with their long-term earnings potential makes the sector look compelling, he adds. His 9% overweight allocation to financials includes Barclays and HSBC, and insurers RSA and Allianz. Barclays is a long-term favourite holding, at 7.6% of the fund. Food and fertiliser is another preferred area for the manager, through which he plays the theme of increasing global consumption and rising demand for ...