Fund manager Neil Woodford doubles stake in Card Factory despite high street woes

Former star trader Neil Woodford has doubled his stake in Card Factory despite high street footfall woes hitting the retailer’s sales last year.

Woodford Investment Management has increased its stake in the greeting cards retailer to 10.06 per cent, in a significant bet on the company boosting its performance.

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The fund manager will also hope to improve his own fortunes, having suffered a torrid time in recent years as assets managed by his equity income fund have fallen to £4.4bn from a peak of £10.2bn in 2017.

Shares in the budget card retailer jumped ten per cent following its annual results last month, despite a like-for-like sales dip of 0.1 per cent last year and earnings falling five per cent to £89.4m.

But the company’s online sales increased by 56 per cent and overall revenue rose 3.3 per cent to £436m.

Woodford’s investment vehicle first bought into Card Factory in April 2017 and said it was an established leader in the UK cards market, with “unsurpassed value of money credentials.”

It added that Card Factory was among a number of good quality domestic-focused stocks, which have fallen out of favour since the EU referendum and represented good value.

Woodford's former employer Invesco reduced its stake from 26.9 per cent to 25.8 per cent at the end of last week.

Read more: Card Factory sales flat as high street footfall drops

Last week Woodford pledged to reduce the level of unquoted investments in his Woodford Equity Income Fund, following concerns from investors.

He said unquoted exposure in the fund would drop below 10 per cent by the end of the year.