Battered by concerns over the threat posed by Amazon and discount competitors, Europe’s grocery stocks are finding favour with some investors on hopes for a better 2018.

While increasing competition is a worry, changes to buying relationships with suppliers should help ease margin and price pressure going forward, according to Ian Ormiston, a European equity-fund manager at Old Mutual Global Investors, whose European Equity Fund holds both Ahold Delhaize and  Carrefour.

“This is a sector that’s too far out of favour,” Ormiston said at a briefing in London. “It’s been an absolute darling of short-sellers, and it has delivered well for them because it’s been a horrendous environment for supermarket groups.”