Valuation changes of last year to remove opportunities from view

The Debate

This week's debate considers the outlook for UK equities and in which arena most value can be found

The outlook for UK equities and whether the best value can be found in the small-, mid- or large-cap arenas is the subject of this week's Conjecture. Taking part in the debate were Richard Plackett, manager of the Merrill Lynch UK Special Situations and UK Smaller Companies funds, Simon Nichols, director of UK equities at Newton, and Andrew Kelly, a partner in Britannic Cartesian Capital Partners. How has the mid-cap market been performing and what is the outlook for 2006? Andrew Kelly (AK): Towards the end of 2005 and coming into 2006, some key mid-cap sectors, such as building, have be...