Henderson's Lofthouse: The big opportunities for European investors

As a global fund manager, I have learnt through experience that some business and investment trends are firmly local (regulation, for example is often driven by local politics), while others can be global, albeit they can occur at different times in different markets, writes Ben Lofthouse, manager of the Henderson International Income trust.

Since the financial crisis, I have witnessed a general rerating of companies that have attractive, sustainable yields, even if they may have little earnings growth. Pre-financial crisis many of these sectors traded well below the average company valuation of their respective stockmarkets. Now they trade at, or above, market levels. Examples of this include telecommunications companies, regulated utilities, and REITs around the world. The drivers of this rerating have been uncertainty regarding the earnings of more economically cyclical companies, and the collapse of bond yields. In...