OMAM's Watts: FTSE 250 to rise 15% this year

The FTSE 250 could rise a further 15% in 2011 despite surging more than 25% in 2010, said Old Mutual Asset Managers mid-cap specialist Richard Watts.

Watts, running the £900m UK Select Mid Cap fund, said analysts’ expectations for profit growth from the sector indicate a rise of 15% overall. “There is no reason why that is not obtainable,” the manager said. Watts said OMAM’s base case for global GDP growth tallies with analysts’ expectations of between 3.5% and 4% growth this year, and he said this, coupled with better than expected earnings from companies within the mid-cap sector, supports the case for a rise of 15%. Last year mid caps extended a rally begun in 2009, with the FTSE 250 outperforming the FTSE 100 significantly, ...