The Big Question: Managers identify opportunities in peripheral Europe

Jim Campbell co-manager of the J.P.Morgan European Smaller Cos trust   Italian financials Against all the odds, there are definitely green shoots in peripheral Europe. Almost all the macro data has been better than expected, even in the most bedraggled areas such as Greece. What all the peripheral countries have in common is their cost base has come down, there has been some form of labour reform and they are all making productivity gains and reforming government. The turnaround in Europe comprises two parts: the self-help story encapsulated in the austerity measures, and a cycl...