GAM's Gallagher: Five stock picks powering my European portfolio

Niall Gallagher, the manager of the GAM Star Continental European Equity fund, has been buying businesses exposed to the recovery in the European periphery as he seeks to maintain his fund's impressive track record.

The £504m fund has made 35% over three years to 4 April, according to Morningstar, versus an average of 26% for the IMA Europe ex UK sector. But with European markets recovering at different speeds – Germany’s DAX is up 20% in the last year while Spain’s IBEX is up 25%, and France’s CAC 15.6% – opportunities are spread out across geographies. “Peripheral Europe is attractively valued and we are expecting a significant expansion in earnings over the next two to three years, with much higher levels of revenue growth,” Gallagher (pictured) said. In particular, he has been finding attr...