Neptune warns of more write-down pain

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Neptune managing director Robin Geffen is convinced it is too early to buy back into banks, with more than half of the write-down pain still to be realised.

Geffen, the £632m Neptune Global Equity fund manager, retained no developed market exposure to banks and insurance companies in Q4 2007, with minimal financial emerging market holdings. “I think probably somewhere between a third and a half of the pain has actually been taken by way of write-downs so far and as I say I don’t think anybody out there should be trusting a bank’s balance sheet or profit statements until they have a set of audited accounts in front of them,” Geffen says. The Global Equity fund remains overweight in energy, currently its second largest sector at 15.6%. Geff...

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