The shares that are gaining from the weak pound Stephen Bailey, manager of the Liontrust Macro Equity Income fund, said the weakness of the pound - which he expects to continue - had been a major theme behind his selection of stocks. He expects the pound to come under further pressure for some time as the Bank of England continues to try to stimulate recovery through low rates and "money-printing" - quantitative easing. This has the effect of weakening demand for the currency, which then falls in value. Mr Bailey said the best way to play the pound's weakness was through established, shareholder-focused, dividend-paying companies. His two top picks are Royal Dutch Shell and GlaxoSmithKline. "Shell is among the best-placed companies to profit from sterling's slump, as a big chunk of its earnings is in dollars and it is currently yielding more than 5pc," he said. Pharmaceutical stocks such as GlaxoSmithKline are also big winners from the strength in the dollar. Glaxo, famous in Britain for Ribena, successfully sells a range of drugs into foreign markets including the US, where it generates 30pc of its revenues. Other mega-cap defensive winners include the likes of BP, which is still in the process of recovering from its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and British American Tobacco. Both are global firms with multi-currency income streams - but where the dividend is paid in dollars. Carl Stick, manager of the Rathbone Income fund, points to opportunities in other sectors, as well as to smaller, niche businesses whose earnings are in stronger currencies. "Stocks in the aerospace and defence sectors obtain a large proportion of their revenues overseas, particularly in the US, despite being listed on the UK stock market," he said. BAE Systems, for instance, derives 40pc of its turnover in the US. Among smaller stocks, specialist defence firm Ultra Electronics has also done well out of the currency moves, given that almost half its turnover is generated in the US. Other less well known stocks that have taken advantage of sterling's weakness include Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Spectris and Halma, said Martin Cholwill, who manages the Royal London UK Equity Income fund. All three stocks are members of the FTSE 250 index, which is commonly home to faster growing British businesses. "These three names may be more uncommon but they are all significant international earners that have been able to mitigate sterling weakness and profit from the strong dollar," Mr Cholwill said.