Slightly belated update on the end-September portfolio listings this month but the ‘good’ news is that I am no longer fighting this battle alone and a small, parochial rag called The Financial Times has started to pick up on the issues, although they don’t get all the story, natch!
This series has gone on long enough so I’m bringing it to close this month with the biggest news relating to the ongoing moving of the goalposts at Kibo Energy (KIBO) which makes one wonder whether the flagship project in Tanzania is ever going to see the light of day.
Just when you don’t think that the goings-on at Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) can get any more surprising, an RNS comes out of nowhere to make everything right in the world, relating to the unloved holding Industrial Heat. It seems that Neil Woodford can bend the laws of physics after all!
Following my piece this morning on Woodford (HERE), I note that Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) published its interims at the rather odd time of 9.45am today which ruins my competition to some extent. Anyway, there is some good news in there that I am happy to report but it still begs a few questions that I am also happy to ask in my general nit-picking way.
With the end-August portfolio listings coming out yesterday, it is time to update the story and it is not looking any rosier. In fact, quite the reverse. I think matters may be coming to a head here and I reckon Woodford needs a lucky break for once and pretty damn quickly.
A couple of months on from the well-received annual results of Versarien (VRS) on 19 July, the share price has risen to even higher levels from when I initiated coverage (HERE), now valuing the graphene part of the business at well over £200 million so I thought I’d pose a simple question to CEO Neill Ricketts – how are those collaborations coming along?
Following the poor trading update last week from RM2 International (RM2) that I covered HERE, its interims were issued this morning and are largely as expected but still worth a quick look and it’s time to place your bets as to whether Mr Woodford is going to throw another $17 million in to the pot.
Nice of Tom to set me up for this one today with his preview yesterday (HERE) and, to no-one’s surprise whatsoever, Xeros Technology Group (XSG) published its interims this morning showing continued significant cash-burn and a need for another chunk of dosh from Mr Neil Woodford and his pals.
To emphasise the point about the contrasting investment strategies of Neil Woodford and Terry Smith that I covered earlier today, I thought it appropriate to cover the health-tech AI spoof, BenevolentAI, that has just filed its results for the year to 31 December 2017 at Companies House (HERE). I am still struggling to find any evidence of anything other than a reasonably good concept here.....and it’s meant to be worth $2 billion!
It is hard not to compare these two behemoths of the UK fund management industry. Neil Woodford has (still) a great long-term track record but the recent respective performances of their flagship funds are chalk and cheese and now Terry Smith is looking to encroach on Woodford’s territory further with a small company investment trust too.
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