Woodford Investment Management has finally published the entire portfolio of the CF Woodford Equity Income Fund – of which we published the top ten holdings last week. And from now on, you’ll be able to stay up to date once a month – a commendable rarity these days.
All of this in accordance with the open-door information policy that chief executive Craig Newman calls a breakaway from the industry norm. “We strongly believe that all of our investors have the right to know where their money is invested, from the biggest holding in the fund to the smallest. This is why we are breaking away from the industry norm and publicly disclosing the fund’s entire portfolio, rather than just the top 10 holdings.”
So what’s in it? You can read it yourself now at https://woodfordfunds.com/the-woodford-equity-fund/fullportfolio/, but we’ll tell you now that manager Neil Woodfordsays he’s avoiding sectors and stocks that he believes are vulnerable to a faltering global economy.
The fund’s top 10 holdings highlight significant emphasis on the pharmaceutical and tobacco sectors. Neil Woodford believes that the fund’s investments within these two sectors will be resilient in the face of a general weakening economic environment – they have strong balance sheets and attractive valuations. These themes are reflected across the portfolio.
The 61-stock portfolio also includes several early-stage businesses, many of which are linked to scientific research emerging from universities across the UK.
Neil Woodford says: “I strongly believe that investing in early-stage businesses can add meaningfully to the long-term performance of the fund, albeit individual positions will be small in the context of the overall portfolio.
“The UK has some of the best universities in the world, developing some of the best intellectual property. Unfortunately, as an economy, we have not had a good track record of converting these great ideas into long-term commercial success. There are many reasons for this, but the principle one is a distinct lack of access to appropriate long-term patient capital.
“This combination of great innovation and a lack of capital has created some very exciting investment opportunities, which the fund is seeking to take advantage of via a portfolio of early stage investments.”
