2016年整个欧洲研究Team: Business & Employment Services, No. 2: Joel Spungin & team

Joel Spungin & team

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

First-place appearances: 2

Total appearances: 20

Team debut: 1994

Unranked on this lineup the past two years, Bank of America Merrill Lynch returns with its best showing since 2012, earning second place. Former team leader Andrew Ripper left the firm in June 2014 to become head of investor relations at U.K. outsourcing giant Capita, andJoel Spungintook the reins that October. The 37-year-old signed on with BofA Merrill in July 2007 from Oriel Securities, where he tracked U.K. business services names. Before assuming his current role, Spungin co-managed (with Mark Manduca) the firm’s regional transport squad, which this year merits its fourth consecutive first-place finish. He holds a master’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from England’s University of Oxford. Buy-siders find Spungin and his team to be "friendly, smart and good communicators," in the words of one admirer. A second client hails their "wide and detailed coverage." The three London-based analysts report on 19 European business and employment services providers and hold a mixed view on the group overall. "Business Services is not really a sector but more a collection of small subsectors, often with very distinct value drivers," notes Spungin. "In general, we have been positive on the staffing subsector and cautious on the testing subsector. However, there are a number of quite unique stocks with few listed peers which really have to be considered as stand-alones." One company they have been touting is Ireland-based credit services provider Experian. Despite macroeconomic and foreign currency constraints, the company posted solid results for the first half of its fiscal year that began in April, including better-than-expected sales at Experian’s U.S. consumer unit and healthy organic growth in Latin America, they advise. Although they project that pressure on margins will continue through fiscal 2017, the researchers expect negative impacts to be counterbalanced by robust cash flow, reduced interest charges and management’s extended share-repurchase program.