When the trust launched in
April, such were the scale of its
assets it was expected it would
take Woodford one to two years
before the portfolio was fully
invested. In reality, approximately
75 per cent of the portfolio’s
proceeds were invested by June
2015, and within the first seven
months it was fully up to speed.
“I don’t really
care about
the trust’s
valuation
one year on”
INVESTMENT EVOLUTION
Simon Elliott, a research analyst
at Winterflood Investment Trusts,
says: “At a recent meeting with Neil
Woodford, it became clear he is less
focused on short-term performance
and instead, rightly, wants to be
judged on what the trust achieves
over the long-term. Markets have
4
been difficult in the trust’s first year
and it has been hit by headwinds
in the healthcare sector. That said,
we believe that the speed at which
the capital has been deployed is
positive and note the evolution in
the investment strategy.”
In terms of the evolution Elliott
is referring to, it was expected at
launch that about one quarter of
the portfolio would be invested in
mature, large cap dividend-paying
stocks, whose distributions would
effectively pay for the running of the
trust. One year on, Woodford says
he no longer needs this buffer and
instead is using cash in the fund to
buy the companies he wants, which
Elliott takes as a positive sign.
The analyst also notes there
have been some underlying stock
successes in the trust in the first
year. “Within the portfolio, there
will always be some companies
that don’t deliver, but equally
there will be those that are
successful and it is these that will
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