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Even a few of our detractors have now come around
Eddie Stobart Holdings (ESL) still sees its shares suspended as the company can still not get its half year accounts bottomed out and published but a rescue plan today may well see the shares slung off AIM and the nature of the mega high interest loan injection makes it clear the equity is almost worthless. Well done Neil – this was a major holding in the Income Focus and Equity Income Funds.
Yesterday Neil Woodford finally threw in the towel. Having been sacked as investment manager for his own namesake Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), as we immediately pointed out here on ShareProphets, his fund management operation was no longer viable. Last night we learnt that Woodford had handed his notice in at WPCT and Income Focus, and will wind up Woodford Investment Management. It is an outcome we have been explicitly predicting for over a year and a half and now it has come to pass. The only question now is how much further humiliation can be heaped on Woodford, and that day of reckoning is already upon us.
Link, the ACD, to Neil Woodford’s flagship Equity Income Fund has, after liaising with the FCA, announced that the fund will not be un-gated, allowing investors to redeem units in December, but will instead be wound down. And Neil Woodford’s Woodford Investment Management has been fired with immediate effect. That is the death knell for it. Our extensive warnings, in more than 1000 podcasts and articles since 2015, HERE are now utterly vindicated, Neil is finished.
Yesterday the FTSE All-Share index (Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Equity Income and Income Focus funds) dropped 0.49%, but his funds dropped 0.62% and 1.09% in NAV per unit respectively as yet another day of underperformance took its toll...
Yesterday the FTSE All-Share (Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Income Focus and Equity Income funds) put on 0.5% and Income Focus almost matched it with a 0.44% gain in NAV per unit. But Equity Income only put on 0.26% as underperformance continued...
Yesterday the FTSE All-Share (Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Equity Income and Income Focus funds) was again almost flat – a performance matched by the unit NAV of Income Focus. But the Equity Income Fund unit NAV dropped 0.41% to bring the total fund size down to £3.11 billion. Oops….
Yesterday the FTSE All-Share, Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Equity Income and Income Focus funds, was more or less flat but, according to Morningstar, the NAV per unit of those funds fell by 0.51% and 0.43% respectively. Normal service resumed, then...
Yesterday Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Equity Income and Income Focus Funds, the FTSE All-Share, put on 0.4% - as did the FTSE 100. But his two unit trusts again put on more. Has the tide turned? With a long queue of disasters in the making, I rather doubt it...
Neil Woodford’s benchmark for his Equity Income Fund (WEIF) and Income Focus Fund (WIFF) put on 0.19% yesterday. For the second day in a row WIFF and WEIF both beat that, putting on 0.69% and 0.40% in NAV per unit respectively. Meanwhile, Neil has been selling more Norwegian Dog Thin Film (THIN), dropping his holding to 9.86% as announced at no-one-is-watching o’clock last night (at quarter to five) as the company continues to hurtle towards the corporate undertakers or an eye-watering dilution if a rescue refinancing can be arranged.
Yesterday was a good day in the markets: the FTSE100 put on 1%. Of course, the FTSE100 is not the benchmark for Neil Woodford’s two unit trusts – that is the FTSE All-Share index, which put on 0.87%. So it is perhaps a tad disappointing that Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) dropped by 0.07% in NAV per unit, although not as disappointing as Woodford Income Focus which managed to drop 0.89%. Oh dear...
Yesterday we learnt from Citywire that Neil Woodford has dumped his holding in Nasdaq-listed Prothena (PRTA) for £50 million to San Francisco-based biotech investor EcoR1 Capital, ending another disastrous tale of woe. In the early days of Woodford Investment Management this was a star investment and Neil chucked in piles of other people’s money but last year it ran into trouble when its flagship treatment for amyloidosis failed in trials. In the good old days Woodford’s holding topped well over £500 million in value – and he’s got just £50 million for his 22% stake...
This looks like a doddle to investigate. The stock is ADM Energy (ADME) but will the FCA dare to challenge Shaikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Al Maktoum or is insider dealing just an offence of you are a nobody? Then I look at the Eddie Stobart (ESL) fraud debacle, the Industrial Heat shambles, Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), the Equity Income Fund (which has today insisted it will look to ungate at Christmas... whatever) the Income Focus Fund (soon to be gated) and what today's news says about the stupidity, arrogance and lack of ethics of Neil Woodford himself. Postscript: His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Dalmook bin Juma Al Maktoum is not to be confused with Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates and indeed a very wealthy man. I did confuse him but this is still a Dubai Royal, will the FCA take him on?
I start with the case of a banker Andrew Tinney who "acted without integrity" but thinks he has done nothing wrong. Discuss. Then ex banker Sajid Javid who wants to ramp up the housing asset bubble by switching stamp duty from buyer to seller. Why do you think he is oing that? Finally to Neil Woodford's Income Focus Fund and a discussion of why it should be gated now but when it will actually be gated.
To be fair to Neil Woodford, markets have been a tad choppy of late, to say the least. But yesterday at midday the FTSE100 was down around a third of a percent and this morning’s data from Morningstar shows that Woodford’s Income Focus Fund (WIFF) had lost 0.85% in NAV per unit and his Equity Income Fund (WEIF) had dropped 0.75%. Another day of outperformance (of the wrong sort) then...
Another mucky day on the markets saw all of Neil Woodford’s motley crew reporting losses. But whilst the FTSE100 dropped 0.4%, Woodford Equity Income (WEIF) lost 0.47% in NAV per unit and his Income Focus Fund (WIFF) shed 0.55%. It seems that outperformance is the order of the day, although not the outperformance his poor investors were hoping for...
You have to have a tiny bit of sympathy for Neil Woodford (just a tiny bit, mind) this morning after yesterday’s market sell-off as the FTSE 100 dropped 2.5%: unless you were in gold (smile….) everything that moved was heading south. So it is little surprise that Woodford’s Income Focus Fund dropped 2.63% in NAV per unit – even if the drop was a little more pronounced...
Oh dear, Kier! Neil Woodford’s last Hail Mary - otherwise known as his great gamble on Kier Group (KIE) - put a hole in his Income Focus Fund (WIFF) as investors realised that the promised end-of-July trading update wasn’t happening and WIFF lost a chunky 1.08% in NAV per unit yesterday, according to Morningstar. And having battled back to £290.20 million, the fund fell away to £286.74 million...
Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund (WIFF) had a good day yesterday as it put on 0.53% in NAV per unit, according to Morningstar. Mind you, the FTSE-100 put on 1.8% and the FTSE All-Share index added 1.5%, so it wasn’t all that great. But a gain is a gain. In theory, that should have pulled the total assets up from Friday’s close of £287.65 million to £289.17 million...
Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund put on 0.39% in NAV per unit yesterday – not bad, given that the FTSE100 dropped 0.7% and was even lower at lunchtime when the figures were calculated. That should have increased the size of the fund from £286.21 million to £287.33 million before redemptions...
This morning’s data from Morningstar shows that yesterday Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund put on 0.08% of NAV per unit. That should have increased the total fund marginally from £287.2 million to £287.4 million before redemptions hit...
I suppose releasing bad news t 6pm on a Friday is a bit of an improvement from releasing calamitous FY numbers at eleven minutes past one in the morning (yes, really!) but it is still very poor form from Woodford Dog Thin Film on the Norwegian OslosBors (THIN). And the news was indeed grim.
This morning’s data from Morningstar shows that the NAV per unit of Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund put on a modest 0.05% yesterday. With the total fund having closed previously on £287.8 million that should have lifted the fund to £287.9 million before redemptions hit.
This morning’s data from Morningstar shows that Neil Woodford's Income Focus Fund dropped 0.29% in NAV per unit on the first trading day of this week.
This morning’s data from Morningstar shows that Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund (WIFF) appears to be stabilising – well, sort of: NAV per unit is marginally up but not by quite enough to cover redemptions...
After a few torrid days, Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund managed to put on 0.33% in NAV per unit yesterday, according to this morning’s data from Morningstar. With the fund having dropped to £286.3 million on Tuesday, that should have seen it up to £287.2 million before redemptions.
This morning’s figures from Morningstar show that Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund has headed south again, and notched up another new low point yesterday. NAV per unit dropped 0.59% which should have dropped the fund from Friday’s figure of £291.6 million to £289.9 million, but redemptions nibbled away at that.
Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund dropped 0.53% in its NAV per unit on Friday as the fund slipped to another new low point of £291.6 million. Having closed at £293.6 million on Thursday that 0.53% drop should have seen the fund down to £292.0 million but redemptions once again knocked a further £0.4 million form the total.
Whilst the likes of Invesco had offered formal undertakings to accept the offer form BBD Bidco for shares in BCA Marketplace (BCA), Neil Woodford only offered a letter of intent to vote for the deal. Of course, the deadwood press was full of how Neil was supporting the offer. Well….
Neil Woodford’s Income Focus fund (WIFF) has taken a real beating since his Equity Income fund (WEIF) was gated. This morning’s figures from Morningstar show that the units dropped 0.5% yesterday – but redemptions saw yet more funds withdrawn.
We have speculated about how much cash Neil Woodford needs to raise within his sunken flagship fund, the suspended Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), in order to get the current gating lifted. Of course, because it wasn’t really an equity income fund at all due to the massive exposure to unlisted and illiquid holdings in companies that not only offered no dividend but actually need feeding so that will be quite an ask. We know that it had been suffering redemptions at a rate of about £10 million a day until the shutters came down when Kent County Council asked for its £238 million back on June 3rd. So that’s about £250 million (Kent plus that day’s redemption requests) already.
Sorry for the late bearcast, I enjoyed a long chat with Reuters (see Roger Lawson not all the deadwood press hates me!) on when Neil Woodford's Income Focus Fund will be gated. It is a when not an if and I discuss what is going on under the surface. Then it is on to Pendragon (PDG) and BCA MarketPlace (BCA) which is more of a BIG SHORT - than ever. I look at Big Sofa (BST), Amphion (AMP) which looks like a zero and finally, in some detail, UK Oil & Gas (UKOG). Now back to the rising water levels at the Welsh Hovel.
This morning’s data from Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund (IFF) will be a real worry for Nomates. As at midday yesterday, the NAV of the accumulation units had slipped slightly by 0.33% but the size of the fund plunged to £371.31 million.
This morning’s data from Neil Woodford’s Income Focus Fund (IFF) must be a worry as redemptions are still piling in. How long can it be before liquidity dries up and the fund is gated, like its bigger brother the Woodford Equity Income Fund.
Yesterday I showed that redemptions at Woodford Income Focus Fund (IFF) had been 6% the previous day. This morning it is down again sharply – and so is Woodford Equity Income Fund (EIF) despite the gates being firmly shut.
The smaller unit trust run by Neil Woodford, the Income Focus Fund (IFF), has had a torrid time ever since it was launched and trades way below the launch price of the accumulation units. But with Neil Woodford now in the headlines for gating his flagship equity income fund and even his staunchest supporter – Hargreaves Lansdown – suggesting that investors consider their position in IFF, much as predicted on this fine website, it seems that redemptions are running at stampede levels. How long can Neil Woodford survive this before he has to gate IFF too?
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.
I Thought I would follow up on both Steve’s piece and Tom’s Bearcast on yesterday’s debacle at GYG (GYG) as I was disappointed that both my colleagues failed to make the obvious Woodford connection but, more importantly, I wonder if the banks will be taking a close look at this as the 30 June banking covenants must be a tad challenging.
There’s been a lot to comment on relating to Woodford Capital Patient Trust (WPCT) recently but with the March portfolio updates for all of Woodford’s funds finally being published on Monday, I thought I should get my updates out as Woodford appears to have been a bit preoccupied to do so with a minor biotech blip and the like.
As Neil Woodford is such a believer in transparency, he has pulled his monthly updates altogether so these monthly updates now take on a greater importance to provide much needed information to the long-suffering investors in the three funds. Can’t imagine why Woodford stopped them?
Loyal readers will know that I, like Mr Woodford, love a quiz and with my favourite week of the year fast approaching, I thought I’d run a (simpler) quiz with a Cheltenham-related prize. There’s only two questions, so I’m hoping for more than one entrant this time!
My conclusion to The Big Short series over Christmas was that although it was a long-term play, Neil Woodford was only a few pieces of “bad luck” away from a speedier, more dramatic implosion. This week’s Capita (CPI) news is the second of those already and we’re only one month in. Further to the excellent pieces on Capita yesterday (HERE and HERE), a few further observations on the wider Woodford story from me.
As I anticipated in my RM2 International (RM2) piece yesterday, the December monthly updates finally came out yesterday afternoon and I thought it appropriate to provide monthly updates on The Big Short in conjunction with those each month so here goes. Quick summary: it’s not getting any easier for Woodford.
Look, I’m trying to be nice. We were last told that it could be tits up for RM2 International (RM2) by the end of January and today we heard that it has found enough cash down the back of the sofa to last until the third week of February. Good news! The reality is that this is a cash guzzling uber-dog and highlights the predicament that Britain's most conceited fund manager Neil Woodford has got himself into.
I’ve been smiling this week at the comments on Woodford’s website as the moderators are desperately sticking to the party line regardless of what is happening in reality or what Woodford himself is briefing to investors privately. Let me explain in the context of his Income Focus Fund.
I’m going to draw together my analysis on Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) in one piece now so that if you’ve actually been enjoying Christmas rather than reading Shareprophets, you can start here and work backwards. I will also add a few words of caution that I picked up from the book “The Big Short” itself.
Er….hi, just me again! This Chapter of “The Big Short” looking at Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) wasn’t in the original draft manuscript sent to my editor but as something truly astounding was pointed out to me in the comments of my piece yesterday, I thought I’d better add to the opus. Hat tip to Robert Dwek for spotting it.
