Second Woodford fund frozen after stock picker’s resignation

A second fund run by Neil Woodford has been suspended following the investment manager's dramatic decision to close his business last night.

The £252 million (€291 million) Income Focus fund has been frozen by its administrator, Link Fund Solutions, after Mr Woodford announced his intention to resign as manager. Link had previously taken the decision to suspend Mr Woodford's flagship Equity Income fund in June.

Mr Woodford announced he was resigning from income focus and his investment trust, Patient Capital, after Link fired him from managing equity income on Monday.

“LFS expects that the redemptions in the [income focus] fund will reach a level whereby it may no longer be able to continue to meet redemption requests without prejudicing the interests of both remaining and redeeming investors,” Link said on Wednesday.

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It added it would consider whether to appoint a new manager for the fund, merge it with another vehicle or wind it down.

Income focus has halved in size since the June suspension of equity income due to heavy outflows and severe underperformance.

As with equity income, Link said it will review the suspension of income focus with the fund's depositary, Northern Trust, every 28 days and inform the Financial Conduct Authority and investors.

Patient Capital’s share price fell another 7 per cent on Wednesday morning.

Last night Mr Woodford said: "I personally deeply regret the impact events have had on individuals who placed their faith in Woodford Investment Management and invested in our funds." – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019