OMAM's Nickols: UK small caps to jump 10% in second half

Dan Nickols, Old Mutual Asset Managers' (OMAM) top performing small cap manager, has backed share prices to soar in the second half of the year by 10% or more.

Nickols, running the £580m UK Select Smaller Companies fund, said the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies ex-ITs index had risen just 1% in the past six months, and was in line for a sharp upward move before 2012. “The UK equity market has basically gone nowhere over the past six months, even though earnings estimates have gone up,” he said. “The market has to move at some point and last year it went up around 25% in the second half. It is certainly possible it can do double-digit growth again if our central case comes to fruition.” Markets have been volatile in recent months, see-sawin...