SECOND TEAM
Jeremy Withers Green & team J.P. Morgan Cazenove
Last year the Cazenove team led by David Knox was No. 1 and the J.P. Morgan team captained by José Linares was No. 3. The latter firm acquired Cazenove Group in January 2010, and the teams were subsequently merged; new leader Jeremy Withers Green pilots the 71-analyst crew to second place. “I had a very high regard for Cazenove, and the new team still has a very good handle on U.K. stocks and U.K. institutions, even though it’s much more of an international player now. They’re seasoned heavyweights,” says one investor. Last February the analysts reiterated their buy on Windsor-based Centrica, which supplies electricity and natural gas, on the improved structural position of the company following its August 2009 acquisition of North Sea gas producer Venture Production and November 2009 purchase of a 20 percent stake in British Energy. The stock had risen 20 percent, from 276.30p to 331.60p, by the end of the year, compared with a gain of 9.6 percent for the broad U.K. market.