Woodford Investment Management, the newly formed asset management company, has published the entire portfolio of the CF Woodford Equity Income fund, marking a break away from the industry norm of just publishing the top 10 holdings.
Neil Woodford, manager of the CF Woodford Equity Income fund, said his largest weightings highlighted significant emphasis on the pharmaceutical and tobacco sectors.
According to Mr Woodford, the fund’s investments within these two sectors will be resilient in the face of a general weakening economic environment as they have strong balance sheets and attractive valuations.
The top 10 holdings see AstraZeneca account for 8.3 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline 7.11 per cent, British American Tobacco 6.2 per cent, BT 6.02 per cent, Imperial Tobacco 5.31 per cent, Roche 3.9 per cent, Imperial Innovations 3.6 per cent, Reynolds American 3.55 per cent, Rolls-Royce 3.47 per cent and Capita at 3.36 per cent.
From the finanial services industry, Mr Woodford failed to pick his former employer Invesco Perpetual.
Mr Woodford left Invesco Perpetual back in April as it was hit with an £18.6m fine by the FCA for failures in systems and controls, some of which occurred in his flagship income fund.
His biggest stakes in financials sees Allied Minds account for 2.93 per cent, HSBC 2.79 per cent, Legal and General 2.09 per cent, Gagfah 1.02 per cent and Redde at 0.9 per cent of the fund.
The 61-stock portfolio also includes several early-stage businesses, many of which are linked to scientific research emerging from universities across the UK.
Mr Woodford said: “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.”
The fund, launched on 2 June, raised £1.6bn during the offer period, which closed at noon on 19 June.
