Citywire: Gifford sells BP for Shell: “F&C equity income fund manager Michael Gifford has sold out of oil giant BP in favour of Shell…” (ShellNews.net) 8 Feb 05

Published: 07:00 Tuesday 08 February 2005 

By: Laurence Fletcher, Funds Correspondent         

F&C equity income fund manager Michael Gifford has sold out of oil giant BP in favour of Shell, and is looking for opportunities to increase his holdings in smaller companies.

Gifford, who manages the £245 million F&C UK Equity Income (F&C UK Equity Income 1 Inc) and the £15 million F&C Growth & Income (F&C Growth & Income 1 Acc) funds, recently slashed his position in BP (BP.) from 5% of his funds to zero and increased his position in Shell (SHEL) to around 5.5% ahead of its relisting later this year.

He told Citywire: 'I think a lot of the good news is already in the share price, while Russia could yet prove to be a problem.'

In October Shell announced it would scrap its dual structure and list all its shares in London, which will lift its percentage of the blue chip index from 4% to around 8%. Gifford argues there is already a rotation taking place out of BP and other mega-caps and into Shell, boosting its share price performance.

He has also used this money to increase his position in the banking sector. Favoured banks include Barclays (BARC) and HBOS (HBOS).

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