The one stop source for breaking news, expert analysis, and podcasts on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Published 18 April 2021, 16:10
Woodford Investment Management (WIM) has finally released its accounts to March 2020 – they were published by Companies House some two and a half weeks late. Tut-tut. But that is the least of the worries here. In part one I discussed Neil Woodford and Craig Newman with their tasty £1.5 million payout as they emptied the coffers on the eve of flagship Woodford Equity Income fund being gated. In part two I look at the rest of the accounts, and wonder where the auditor went.
Published 3 April 2021, 12:00
Link seems to have a habit of shooting itself in the foot at the former Woodford Equity Income Fund as it prepares to defend itself against a legal onslaught from Harcus Parker on behalf of 6,500 folks whose investments were mis-managed into the ground by Neil Woodford, overseen by Link acting as authorised corporate director (ACD). Most recently, it has announced that it has invested some of the fund’s cash into a company called Mafic and the mainstream media has been having a field day as cash supposedly due to be handed out to beleaguered Woodford investors has headed in the opposite direction.
Published 27 November 2018, 03:35
Another day, another Woodford disaster story hits the headlines – this time in the form of AIM-listed Xeros Technology (XSG), which Cynical Bear had postulated would be this year’s RM2 disaster. Well, it’s run out of money again and guess who’s footing the bill (with other people’s money)?
Published 8 August 2019, 09:28
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. So the Muddy Waters report was indeed about AIM-listed Burford Capital which duly crashed by 46% yesterday, to add to the 19% drop on Tuesday, and Neil Woodford’s second biggest stock pick is…er….no longer his second biggest investment. I rather doubt it is in his top ten now. The press, as predicted, has been baying for blood and the queues of gated Woodford Equity Income Fund investors looking to get their money back before any more of it just disappears into thin air will be lengthening. So let’s take a look at the effect of the Burford collapse on the Woodford empire.
Published 21 December 2018, 01:51
Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT)or his flagship Equity Income Fund? It is hard to know where to start for we have disastrous news from both today. How close are we to end game for Neil Woodford, a man happy to be described as Britain's Buffett.
Published 25 March 2019, 08:33
The trouble with Roger Lawson of ShareSoc is that he is too much of a nice guy. As a keen reader of this web site he has more than enough ammo to really stick it to hapless Neil Woodford, the posterboy of the we must reward failure movement. But in his own way, Lawson has today joined we Woodford Bears with his own attack. He opines and the underline is mine.
Published 16 June 2019, 09:40
You, dear reader, know that the Neil Woodford story has largely been driven by ShareProphets (in particular, Nigel Somerville, Cynical Bear, and Tom Winnifrith) over the past two years so I hope that you are shocked by the lack of recognition we get from the Mainstream Press now that they have discovered the story.
Published 4 January 2020, 15:59
Last week saw the announcement of a fundraise by former Woodford investee Oxford Nanopore. The headlines were that £110 million had been raised but in fact only £29.3 million will go to the company. The rest was share sales by existing holders – including the former Woodford funds and IP Group, but the details so far seem to be shrouded in mystery. However, the maths for the former Woodford funds looks awful – which may explain the lack of detail offered up so far. Meanwhile, Oxford Nanopore’s cut of £29 million won’t last it very long and I suggest another funding round must be on the cards before the summer.
Published 24 December 2018, 06:41
‘Twas the night before Christmas. The man who liked to be known not only for his humility but also for being Britain’s greatest ever fund manager lay back on his disruptive Eve mattress next to his rather flatulent but ever faithful old poodle Dampers. Whilst his companion snored loudly, Neil Woodford was deeply troubled by not just one but a second ghostly apparition that night.
Published 7 February 2018, 03:31
You will have read our detailed coverage of Neil Woodford's woes and especially those of his uber dog listed investment company Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT). Our sell advice has saved our readers thousands of pounds. But we believe in balance and so below is the advice of The Times Tempus column which is to buy. It is poorly researched - compare its coverage of Atom Bank with ours HERE) for instance and reads as if it was dictated by a PR person as is so often the case with the stinking carcass that is the deadwood press. Here goes...
Published 6 June 2019, 10:29
In short it all depends on the greed of Neil Woodford himself. Let me explain.
Published 5 January 2018, 01:22
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.
Published 15 October 2019, 22:03
A late-in-the-evening RNS from Woodford Patient Capital (WPCT) announced this evening that Woodford Investment Management has resigned as fund manager to the trust. And we have now learnt that Woodford Investment Management is to be closed down. Stripped of its fee income from Woodford Equity Income (WEIF), from which Neil Woodford was announced as having been sacked early this morning, as both Tom Winnifrith and I pointed out, Woodford Investment Management (WIM) was no longer viable (we got there first on that one as well). Now he has thrown in the towel on that too: WIM is to be closed down. Bring out the ouzo again!
Published 25 December 2017, 02:48
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.
Published 14 January 2019, 02:19
I see that Neil Woodford is reported to be leading efforts to replace the top executives of fully-listed Kier Group (KIE), according to a report on Sky News. This is, of course, in the wake of a rights issue to pay off debt which fell flat (to put it mildly) and relied on the underwriters to be completed….and in the wake of Woodford stating on its website in September that we had a reassuring meeting with management today, which plans to substantially enhance the company’s cash generative capabilities… Overall, the company’s outlook remains very encouraging. Share price then – around £10….now it is just a fiver. Oops!...
Published 3 January 2018, 04:21
I gather that Neil Woodford's office has been busy dealing with questions relating to our most excellent series of articles and podcasts over Christmas. I have been made aware of its responses which are detailed but still leave me feeling incredibly unsettled on two major factors.
Published 7 October 2019, 12:17
I am indebted to Pierotlunaire for his post over the weekend on my piece Woodford Dog BenevolentAI: as predicted......but it is good news really! for the paperwork for Temasek’s investment into this cash-hungry dog has arrived at Companies House and as expected Temasek has take its pound of flesh.
The “good news” for Neil Woodford was that BenevolentAI had managed to attract an investment of $90 million from Temasek. The valuation of BenevolentAI was hit for six, dropping to around $1 billion (from $2 billion) but the other piece of good(ish) news for Neil was that this would drop his unquoted investments held in his Equity Income Fund, which was at the time well over its limit of 10% of the fund – partially because the dodgy Guernsey listings had been scrapped. But of course it also meant that book value of his investments in BenevolentAI had halved at the stroke of a pen.
Published 30 December 2017, 22:30
I alluded to the swapping of the Benevolent AI stock between the two Woodford funds in my early chapters of The Big Short looking at Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) but there are so many odd aspects to the saga going back a few years that it merits an Appendix to itself as it raises a number of serious additional questions for the Board in my view.
Published 5 June 2019, 13:53
Susan Searle, the fragrant chairwoman of Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), where I am a loyal owner of 10 shares, has yet to respond to my polite letter demanding she suspend the shares, fire Neil Woodford and undertake a strategic review. But events now force me to write again in light of Woodford’s incoherent video of earlier. That suggests WPCT now faces a full blown crisis. The letter follows:
Published 12 February 2019, 07:51
I pointed to Invesco and Woodford being named top dogs in the link to the article in the Telegraph at the weekend, but having looked through the latest issue of Spot the Dog from Bestinvest the data and conclusions are truly awful for Neil Woodford.
Monday »
Sunday »
Saturday »
Friday »
Thursday »
Wednesday »
Tuesday »
Monday »
Sunday »
Saturday »
Friday »
Thursday »
Wednesday »
Tuesday »
Monday »
Friday »
Thursday »
Wednesday »
Tuesday »
Monday »
Sunday »
Saturday »
Thursday »
Wednesday »
Tuesday »
Monday »
Sunday »
Friday »
Time left: 03:44:33
