Top Investors Back British Manufacturing as Banks Pay the Price of the Credit Crunch

LONDON, September 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Britain's top fund managers are supporting British manufacturing over and above any other sector and are only backing the safer high street banks shows Top Stocks, a new service from Citywire Money.

For the first time Top Stocks (citywire.co.uk/top-stocks) gives investors access to the shares most favoured by the UK's five most talented stock-picking managers.  The service is intended to help anyone interested in investing to put their money in the best places.

Each month, Citywire Top Stocks analyses the portfolios of the five managers to work out where they are placing their biggest bets. This month, in a much needed sign of growth for the UK economy, the two main findings from Top Stocks are:

• Significant confidence in the UK's industrial strength - the first Top Stocks analysis shows heavy investment in Britain's much maligned industrial sector, with support for  'Back to basics' companies such as Weir, the Glasgow-based valves manufacturer, and GKN, the Redditch-based auto-components maker.

The five managers have 26% of their investments in this sector - almost four times the weighting that it carries in the FTSE All Share Index and, as such, a true show of support for British manufacturing.

• Cautious backing for the banking industry - following the credit crunch top fund managers are backing 'safer' banks such as Barclays and HSBC, which emerged relatively unscathed from the banking crisis, as well as International Personal Finance, a Leeds-based consumer credit company focused on emerging markets, and the London Stock Exchange Group.

Gavin Lumsden, Editor in Chief of Citywire Money, said:

'The fund managers' focus on industrial stocks shows confidence in a sector that has lacked support over recent years -  proving our industrial heritage is not dead. Moreover, these are the sort of high quality exporters that the UK needs to do well if we are going to trade our way out of the economic damaged caused by the credit crunch and the banking crisis.

For more information:

Watch our video which shows the service and how to use it (bit.ly/q6kygE)

NOTES FOR EDITOR:

About Citywire Money:

Citywire Money is an independent website for anyone interested in making the most of their money. It is authorised to give advice by the Financial Services Authority and is owned by Citywire Financial Publishers, one of Britain's fastest growing and innovative publishing groups.

The Top Stocks fund managers:

The five fund managers featured in Citywire Money's Top Stocks are:

Richard Buxton(manager of theSchroder UK Alpha Plus fund)

Nigel Thomas(AXA Framlington UK Select Opportunities)

Tom Dobell(M&G Recovery)

Derek Stuart (Artemis UK Special Situations)

Ed Legget(Standard Life Investments UK Equity Unconstrained)

Contact Gavin Lumsden on +44(0)20-7840-2256 or email: glumsden@citywire.co.uk