< The 2015 All-Europe Research Team
Nik Oliver & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
First-place appearances: 5
Total appearances: 18
Team debut: 1998
Nik Oliver guides Bank of America Lynch’s team of two up one position to third place. The London-based analyst — whose former co-leader in this space, Robert Waldschmidt, moved to U.K. boutique Liberum in July — continues to oversee a range of BofA Merrill’s European consumer coverage. Oliver also captains one crew that earns a runner-up position for its coverage of Tobacco shares and joins with Pinar Ergun in steering another team to runner-up in Household & Personal Care Products. He and his beverages teammates impress investors with their “analyses of the sector drivers globally, which lead them to be smarter and faster than average in identifying the key movements in consumer habits and the implications for the stocks covered,” as one supporter says. The researchers issued a buy call on Belgian brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev in May, pointing to its best-in-class earnings-per-share gains and solid prospects in the Mexican market. On a longer-term basis, adds Oliver, 34, they see upside growth for the company from premium beer in China. AB InBev’s shares have been on the rise, bolting 39.2 percent, to €108.10, by the end of January and outperforming Europe’s beverages shares by 19.1 percentage points.
