Woodford's trust boosted by online estate agent

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Woodford's trust boosted by online estate agent

Neil Woodford’s £845m Patient Capital Investment delivered a positive total return for the first six months of 2017, led by strong performance from a holding in an online estate agent.

The trust returned 7 per cent for the six months to 30 June.

It invests in early stage companies, many of which are not quoted on a stock exchange.

According to data from FE Analytics, 66 per cent of the capital is invested in healthcare stocks.

That includes 14 per cent in the trust’s largest single investment, Prothena Group, an Irish healthcare company listed in the US that develops products for treatment of the immune system.  

But it was the trust’s second largest holding that Neil Woodford highlighted as a strong driver of returns, online estate agency Purplebricks, which accounts for 10 per cent of the capital in the trust.

Purplebricks share price fell 7 per cent on 3 August in light of claims made on a BBC documentary about the nature of the company’s advertising and charging.

However over the past year, the shares have more than trebled, from £1.40 to the current (4 August) level of £4.65.

In his commentary on the results Mr Woodford said: “I have previously emphasised that the operational progress of many of the holdings in the portfolio were exceeding expectations and suggested it was only a matter of time before this progress started to be reflected in valuations.”

The veteran fund manager added: "The largest contribution to returns came from hybrid real estate agency business, Purplebricks.

"Elsewhere amongst the quoted positions, we saw solid contributions from US biotechnology businesses Theravance Biopharma and Prothena, and an impressive return from the UK gene-editing services business, Horizon Discovery.

"There were also good returns delivered by the unquoted portfolio, with British immuno-oncology business, Immunocore, among the highlights.”

Since launch in May 2015, the Woodford Patient Capital Investment Trust has returned 2.8 per cent. The average fund in the AIC UK All Companies sector in the same time period has returned 21.8 per cent.

When he launched the trust Mr Woodford said the performance of the trust should be judged over a decade.

In the results statement he said: “The portfolio is in excellent shape and we remain very confident in the long-term return outlook. It is pleasing this has started to come through in terms of performance, but the share price and net asset value progress we have seen in recent months is insubstantial in the context of what, I believe, lies ahead."

The Woodford Patient Capital Investment Trust trades at a discount to net assets of 0.6 per cent.

David.Thorpe@ft.com