The manager remains underweight UK consumer for the time being, but believes stocks are fast approaching a reasonable valuation range.
"While some companies have experienced much stronger-than-expected earnings during the recovery, particularly in the engineering sector, the UK consumer has not been as confident," he said.
"[Consumer stock] prices are already cheap, and we happen to think that interest rates will go up marginally, which will deal them another blow."
"UK consumer stocks will become even cheaper as a result of this, which will present us with a buying opportunity. In the next six months, we will be looking to up our exposure," he confirmed.
"With a company like [highstreet bakery] Greggs yielding more than four per cent, it is clear that opportunities are beginning to present themselves."
McClure believes the gentle recovery in the British economy will continue even if interest rates do increase. He says he is already reviewing quality consumer companies in anticipation of more attractive valuations.
"I don’t feel the need to up our exposure just yet, but it’s on the cards," he added.
UK retail is the manager’s biggest underweight position at present, but he believes even stock prices in this sector are approaching a reasonable level.
McClure has recently been made a Trustnet Alpha Manager, in acknowledgement of his outperformance in both rising and falling markets.
His Unicorn UK equity fund is the best-performing in its IMA UK Equity Income sector over one-, three- and five-year periods.
Performance of fund vs sector and index
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Financial Express data shows the fund has outperformed its sector by more than 33 per cent in the last five years, and its FTSE All Share benchmark by 21 per cent.
The manager says this outperformance has been driven by his preference for stocks that generate their earnings from overseas.
Castings, the fund’s biggest holding, produces and exports truck parts to emerging nations such as Brazil and Russia, for example.
"This has been one of my best-performing stocks. Truck sales in emerging markets are going through the roof – according to results from the last quarter, Castings can’t keep up with the demand," he said.