AXA's Luckraft: 'I should have sold BP'

AXA Framlington's George Luckraft says he should have sold his BP shares following the Deepwater Horizon spill, but is optimistic on the group's prospects following this week's trading statement.

On Tuesday BP announced a return to profit in Q3 after the previous quarter's record loss of $17bn, and confirmed plans to review its suspended dividend next February. "We should have sold BP immediately but we took the view it was not the only one responsible for the disaster, and when the share price fell to £3 we believed it was discounting a worst case scenario," Luckraft says. "BP will return to the dividend list next year, around February time, when it releases its next trading statement. Even if the dividend is only half what it was, it will still offer a significant yield." ...