Woodford’s Income Focus fund has dropped out of The Share Centre’s top traded list for the first time since its launch.
But the news wasn’t all bad for Neil Woodford, who saw his Equity Income fund return to the top of the list.
Despite some familiar names, July saw three new funds enter the list, all with an income focus.
These new funds were Vanguard LifeStrategy 100 per cent Equity, JPMorgan US Equity Income and Fidelity Global Dividend.
He (Neil Woodford) is is own person and he will follow his own judgement but he has called it right more times than he has called it wrong.Kevin MorganSheridan Admans, investment manager at The Share Centre, said Woodford’s Income Focus fund appears to have been replaced by funds offering geographical diversification and income from overseas sources.
He said: “Could Neil selling out of a number of well-known companies including British American Tobacco have knocked investors’ confidence during July?
“Probably not, given that the data, which is based on the number of trades made by customers at The Share Centre, confirms that the longer established CF Woodford Equity Income fund has crept back to position itself as the most popular fund in July.”
Last month Mr Woodford sold his British American Tobacco holding after 20 years, claiming the opportunity in the sector had “largely played out”.
Having begun to trim his holdings in May as part of a shift towards cyclical stocks, Mr Woodford closed positions in his £10bn Equity Income and £670m Income Focus funds in June.
Mr Woodford also ditched his holding in GlaxoSmithKline from his Equity Income fund after 15 years as he shifted towards domestic cyclical names such as Lloyds Banking Group.
Also towards the top traded list’s summit was Fundsmith Equity, which fell to second place.
The top five are finished off by Jupiter India, Legg Mason Japan and Lindsell Train Global Equity.
Kevin Morgan, managing director of Consilium Financial Planning, said: "Woodford is a bit of an enigma.
"He is is own person and he will follow his own judgement but he has called it right more times than he has called it wrong.
"I remember the dot com boom and he stuck to his principles and was proved right. I think we have got to give him the headroom to do it."
damian.fantato@ft.com
