Five of the Best: UK small caps to play consumer uptick

The managers of the £83m Aviva Investors UK Smaller Companies fund, Toby Belsom and Robin West, name five UK smaller companies set to benefit from an uptick in consumer spending.

Despite the UK economy recently entering a double dip recession, Belsom and West, who are top quartile over the past one and three years, are optimistic on the UK consumer. They have been cutting back their exposure to industrial stocks in order to close out their previous consumer underweight. "This move is based on the premise that the next 12 months will see interest rates remaining low, unemployment (or rather fear of unemployment) stabilising and possibly starting to improve, UK house prices remain broadly flat and falling retail price inflation," they said. "This has resulted in...