Shares in Neil Woodford’s listed fund continue to fall after bruising day
Shares in Neil Woodford’s investment trust have fallen again in early trading following a bruising day which saw the once-lauded fund manager’s empire collapse.
Woodford was yesterday dismissed as the manager of his flagship Equity Income Fund (WEIF) and resigned from the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) and Income Focus Fund.
Read more: Woodford winds down: Stockpicker’s troubled investment empire collapses
The stockpicker then announced he was taking the “highly painful decision” of closing his investment company Woodford Investment Management.
Shares in Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), which is London-listed, had fallen 7.55 per cent by 8.30am to 31.8p.
WPCT’s share price hit an all-time low of 29.85p today as the stock dropped as badly as 9.9 per cent.
The trust’s shares have fallen by over 50 per cent over the last year, and dropped eight per cent yesterday.
Administrator Link shuttered Woodford’s Equity Income Fund (WEIF) yesterday after it was frozen in June following a rush by investors to withdraw their money.
Link said it will begin winding up WEIF “as soon as practicable” after 17 January 2020 — the soonest the process can begin as regulations require investors to be given three months’ notice.
Ryan Hughes, AJ Bell’s head of active portfolios, told Morning Wire yesterday that investors with money in the suspended fund should be prepared for the process of liquidating its assets to take “some considerable time”.
Hughes said it could take “between six and 12 months” from January to complete the process of closing down the fund, adding that the process could “easily” still be going on “a year later”.
Read more: Timeline: Where everything went wrong for Neil Woodford
After initially condemning Link’s decision to fire him from his fund, Woodford hours later announced his company was folding.
He said yesterday: “I personally deeply regret the impact events have had on individuals who placed their faith in Woodford Investment Management and invested in our funds.”
(Image credit: Getty)