Plackett adds to unloved financials in £1.4bn fund

Richard Plackett has increased exposure to banking stocks in his £1.4bn UK Special Situations fund, believing they look attractive after a long period of underperformance.

The fund has been significantly underweight the banking sector throughout the period from mid-2007 to the end of 2010, but Plackett has boosted his weighting in financials to 9%, only 3% underweight the benchmark. The move takes his position in financials up from 7% at the end of 2010, 6% in 2009 and 5% in 2008, the year in which Lehman Brothers collapsed. Plackett says: "We are still underweight but we have increased our position in stocks like Standard Chartered, because we feel financials have underperformed for a long time and are now looking more attractive." Over five years, ...