Industry Sectors - Tobacco: First

David Hayes & teamNomura International

The buy side says: “David comes up with out-of-the-box insights and ideas.”

David Hayes leads the three-analyst Nomura International team up one notch to capture the crown for the first time. Hayes, whom clients describe as a “creative thinker” with “brilliant ideas and solid insights,” and his associates urged investors to buy London-based British American Tobacco in January 2010, at 2,020p, on valuation and improving margins, among other factors. By the end of the year, the stock had wafted up to 2,463.50p, a gain of 22 percent that put BAT ahead of the sector by 5.9 percentage points. Hayes, 38, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bristol University in 1993 and an MBA at Cranfield University School of Management in 2001. He worked in the corporate finance department at BT Group before joining Lehman Brothers in 2000 as a beverages and tobacco analyst; Nomura acquired the Asian and European operations of Lehman Brothers Holdings in 2008.