Fund manager Neil Woodford has continued to suffer in 2018 as his flagship fund shrunk to a near three-year low. Woodford’s equity income fund assets slumped to £6.6bn as at the end of March.
In February, it was reported that Woodford had shipped £1bn in the first five-and-a-half weeks of 2018, falling to £7.2bn. However, the latest figures indicate that his assets have further fallen by £1.6bn between January and March.
After launching in 2014, Woodford’s flagship fund last registered assets of below £7bn in June 2015, whilst peaking in May 2017 and reaching a colossal £10.2bn.
As of recent months, Woodford has been on the wrong end of a few poor trades with big selloffs from the likes of Provident Financial, Capita and the AA having a negative impact on performance.
In a monthly note released to investors yesterday, Woodford said global firms were being switched on to opportunities presented by British firms.
“We have continued to increase the Woodford funds’ exposure to domestically-exposed stocks, in order to exploit one of very few outstanding valuation opportunities left in these late-stage bull market conditions,” Woodford commented.
Many institutional investors are split on whether Woodford can remain on top, with Jupiter’s Merlin range among a number of those to have withdrawn hundreds of millions of pounds in recent months. However, FTSE 100 wealth management firm St James’s Place has kept their faith in the former Invesco money manager.
Latest News
NEW BUILD IN FOCUS - NEW EPISODE OF THE MORTGAGE INSIDER PODCAST, OUT NOW
Figures from the National House-Building Council saw Q1 2025 register a 36% increase in new homes built across the UK compared with the same period last year, representing a striking development for the first-time buyer market. But with the higher cost of building, ongoing planning challenges and new and changing regulations, how sustainable is this growth? And what does it mean for brokers?
The role of the bridging market and technology usage in the industry
Content editor, Dan McGrath, sat down with chief operating officer at Black & White Bridging, Damien Druce, and head of development finance at Empire Global Finance, Pete Williams, to explore the role of the bridging sector, the role of AI across the industry and how the property market has fared in the Labour Government’s first year in office.
Does the North-South divide still exist in the UK housing market?
What do the most expensive parts of the country reveal about shifting demand? And why is the Manchester housing market now outperforming many southern counterparts?
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
The new episode of The Mortgage Insider podcast, out now
Regional housing markets now matter more than ever. While London and the Southeast still tend to dominate the headlines from a house price and affordability perspective, much of the growth in rental yields and buyer demand is coming from other parts of the UK.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.
© 2019 Perspective Publishing Privacy & Cookies
Recent Stories