Investment managers get paid considerable amounts of money to make the right investment decisions and some years, like last year, most of them get it wrong.

So should we pay much attention to the raft of 2001 forecasts emanating from these experts? We'll only know for sure in 2002.

Equity markets are nervous heading into 2001 and Hibernian, the fifth largest asset managers in the State, believes a reappraisal is in progress.

The Hibernian team has just produced a report, Focus 2001, outlining its investment strategy for the year. One of the main themes of the report is global healing.

Mr Bernard Swords, head of equities at Hibernian Investment Managers, said the healing process that began in late 2000 will continue this year.

As part of this process, he said, investors will come back into buying risk and searching for growth and the financial sector is one of the first to recover.

The next step is the recovery of the technology, media and telecoms sectors or TMT. That is where Hibernian thinks the potential is this year.

"The sector mix that lifted the ISEQ last year will be a disadvantage in 2001 and the Irish market will probably lag the rest of the world," Mr Swords said.

As investors worried about economic growth and profit warnings, it was the TMT sectors that received the harshest treatment last year and to date there has been little recovery in this area.

"If, as we believe, the economic background does indeed improve in the second half of this year, then as markets generally discount events six to nine months in advance we also believe this healing process will continue."

So Hibernian is focusing on the laggards of the fourth quarter of 2000 and avoiding the stars of 2000. That means the investment managers will be concentrating on technology, media and telecoms.

Hibernian plans to avoid what it calls defensive areas such as food, drink, consumer products and utilities and sees little potential left in banks.

In its stock selection, the company is focusing on the large companies in its favourite sectors; Communication Equipment, Internet Enablement, Semi-Conductors, Telecoms, Media, Cyclicals and Pharmaceuticals.

Hibernian is opting for the higher risk portions of this group.

"We remain committed to the communications equipment sector, the penetration of the Internet and the mobile phone," Mr Swords said.