Delegates at Davy Stockbrokers 2003 Equity Market Conference in New York on January 10th, 2003 heard that despite the considerably slower growth in the Irish economy compared to the late 1990s, trading conditions generally remain firm in the domestic market, while asset quality shows no sign of any real deterioration.
The four largest Irish financial groups - AIB, Bank of Ireland (BOI), Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) and Anglo Irish - all attended and painted a reassuring picture of current business trends. Other presentations were given by CRH, Elan, Fyffes, Galen and Ryanair.
The conference heard how the Irish banks had outperformed the European sector by 50 percent over the past twelve months, reflecting the benefits of their exposure to the Irish economy and the low risk and defensive structure of their portfolio of assets.
In their review of the conference, Davy analysts concluded that nothing they had heard at the conference would change their view that the Irish banks still look like a better bet than their European counterparts, at least over the course of the first half of this year.
Ryanair, the low cost airline, which is now the largest airline by market capitalisation in Europe and the 3rd largest in the world, was citied as an example of the value and low risk growth opportunities to be had in the Irish market, even in these times of exceptional volatility on world equity markets. |
