Is Neil Woodford's Halo slipping?

Comments

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   mark shelton

   27 January 2016, 03:56

   Mr Patient is certainly testing mine. WPCT’s undeserved premium to NAV has evaporated which will cause him a problem if he wants to raise more funds through the route he has suggested. Halo is added to growing list of other bungles – UTW, NorthWest Biotherapeutics, IP Group, Rolls Royce, RM2, Silence Therapeutics, Abzena, Midatech all down 40% in last year. Increased chatter that this vehicle will break his reputation as China did to Bolton. He made his name on mid-cap industrials at Invesco. This foray into pharmatech punts is ill-timed. I wouldn’t bank on him getting his hands dirty at Halo. He’s got people to do that for him

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   B Sanderson

   27 January 2016, 05:30

   He plays the long game so I hardly think hes quaking in his boots

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   Striebs

   27 January 2016, 07:02

   Cynical Bear ,

   As you point out Woodford has done his best to make it abundantly clear to investors that his patient capital fund is speculative and cannot be judged by swings over a year .

   The investors will all say on day 1 that they understand what they are getting in to but if the fund is 40% down after a year , people who have not had first hand direct experience of speculative investment will not know what has hit them .

   It’s like giving someone who has only driven a front wheel drive hatchback the keys to your Lamborghini in the wet – they will stack it and when they get out will tell you they did not do anything !

   In short , he is on a hiding to nothing in the short term .

   I’ve seen presentations on a couple of companies he’s invested in and wondered why – Rightster being an example.

   Having a large stake in an illiquid speccy means a long term hold which has been a disaster since GFC .

   That said , I reckon the Henley-on-Thames gent will refine his approach and pick a few massive winners .

   I would forget human medicine tech , cancer cures and the internet and look at simpler and more practical propositions in neglected areas like :-
   - high strength concrete for U.S. Highway repairs e.g. Eden Energy ASX:EDE
   - synthetic animal feed to cash in on increasing demands by humans for animal protein
   - alternatives to antibiotics for treating common livestock complaints

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   mammyoko

   27 January 2016, 08:29

   My money would be on Alex Wright (FSV), Mike Prentis (BRSC), Simon Knott (RIIC) and Giles Hargreave of Marlborough to out-perform WPCT on any time-frame. They are real buy and hold merchants and will perform well with lower risk and volatility.

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   Leven

   27 January 2016, 14:20

   The thing about WPCT is its been marketed as a long term investment vehicle which is fine but I imagine some investors aren’t aware of the exposure to biotech. Plus he has had some proper howlers recently.

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   GreedSpam

   29 January 2016, 08:43

   shareprophets,

   Why not dig into Neil Woodford’s predicament? He really needs a lesson on the dark art of self-flagellation to sort himself out.
   Almost a year ago (before WPCT) Neil Woodford flagged up concerns about biotech valuations
   - Tom Winnifrith Saturday 4 April 2015
   Which resulted in
   Tom Winnifrith, Sunday 6 December 2015 – ‘the Neil Woodford biotech scandal’
   Care to elucidate on that.

   And the tag: neil woodford
   1.Circassia is a short
   2.Purplebricks foundations look very shaky
   3.Allied Minds still a sell

   Including the ‘list of other bungles’ in the comments
   there is also; The Allied Minds relatives, GMD, Alkermes, Prothena, Verseon, Netscientific, Hivo, DDDD & the David Norwood Collection.

   There’s also plenty of stuff from the Bulletin Board Morons to gather.
   You lot really could do a piece on it when this blows up it is going to look like the Mr Creosote of fund managers.

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   wildrides

   29 January 2016, 16:15

   Neil who ? Oh the sloth in the sofa adverts …… got ya .