Lowland and HOT bet on 'resilient' consumer names after pocketing energy gains

‘An exciting time to be a net buyer’

The £388m Lowland trust and £116m Henderson Opportunities trust (HOT) are slowly reducing their exposure to energy stocks to buy up positions in 'resilient' consumer stocks, bets that co-manager James Henderson defines as “modestly contrarian”.

With a 4.6% position, Serica Energy is the largest holding in the Henderson Opportunities trust, while Shell, BP and National Grid make up a combined 9.6% of the Lowland portfolio.  However, in recent weeks the trusts have been pocketing some of the gains from energy stocks and adding to cyclical areas, with a focus on the mid-cap consumer stocks that have been beaten down in recent months due to recession fears. "People really worried, quite rightly, that the UK consumer is in for a very difficult period. That said, there are really good retailers that will come through the other sid...