Investors backing Britain’s biggest airline and travel companies like Mark Barnett and Henry Dixon, are nursing heavy losses from the coronavirus pandemic as more countries implement harsher travel restrictions to delay the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday president Donald Trump announced he would be suspending travel from the EU to the US except for the UK. Meanwhile Boris Johnson is expected to escalate the country’s response to Covid-19 by ordering school closures, the cancellation of sporting events and forcing employees to work from home.
The stricter measures have dealt a devastating blow to British-listed airliners like Easyjet and International Airlines Group (IAG) and cruise ship company Carnival, which were already trading at heavily depressed prices.
Shares in discount airliner Easyjet plunged 6.3% during Thursday morning trading, extending its share price losses for the month to 43%.
IAG was down 10% Thursday, while Carnival, the owner of the Diamond Princess ship which was docked in Yokohama, Japan for two weeks after a Covid-19 outbreak onboard, saw shares fall 15%.
Easyjet share price collapse weighs on Barnett funds
Easyjet is among the top 10 largest investments in Barnett’s Invesco Income and High Income funds. The funds which have 2.3% in the discount airliner have lost close to 10% each since the beginning of March.
Invesco UK Companies, which also includes Easyjet among its largest holdings, has fallen further than Barnett’s funds, losing investors 10.45%.
Easyjet holders
| Fund | Holding (%) | Performance (%) |
| Invesco High Income | 2.27 | -9.96 |
| Invesco Income | 2.28 | -9.81 |
| Invesco UK Companies | 3.68 | -10.45 |
| Invesco UK Focus | 4.34 | -10.17 |
| Man GLG UK Absolute Value | 2.28 | 0.08 |
| Man GLG Undervalued Assets | 2.40 | -10.21 |
Source: FE Fundinfo; total returns in sterling calculated from 01/03/2020 to 12/03/2020
This is the second time Barnett has been burned by one of his bets in the British travel sector.
His holdings in the now defunct Thomas Cook resulted in a £2.2m hit for Invesco over the travel agent’s final turbulent month. Thomas Cook featured in his £2.4bn Invesco Income fund, as well as the Edinburgh Investment Trust which he was booted from in December.
Britain’s leisure and travel companies have been some of the hardest hit by the market impact of the coronavirus.
The FTSE All Share Travel & Leisure index, which includes companies like Domino’s Pizza and cruise liner Carnival, has fallen 17.6% this month, 7% worse than the FTSE All Share (-10.3%).
Henry Dixon and Odey funds suffer
Funds from Man GLG, Fidelity and Crispin Odey’s fund boutique are among the other casualties of the coronavirus hit to travel.
Man GLG Undervalued Assets fund, spearheaded by Henry Dixon and Jack Barrat, has exposure to both IAG, the holding company formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, and Easyjet.
The £1.4bn fund is down more than 10% since the beginning of March, while Dixon’s Man GLG UK Income fund is also nursing losses above 9%.
The Odey Portfolio, which has a 2.09% stake in IAG, has lost 4.22% so far this month. Run by Peter Martin, the fund is third quartile over one year and in the fourth quartile of the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector over three and five years.
IAG holders
| Fund | Holding (%) | Performance (%) |
| Artemis UK Select | 3.46 | -10.42 |
| Man GLG UK Income | 3.30 | -9.42 |
| Man GLG Undervalued Assets | 2.72 | -10.21 |
| Fidelity Enhanced Income | 3.10 | -6.79 |
| Fidelity Moneybuilder Dividend | 3.15 | -7.21 |
| LF Odey – Portfolio | 2.09 | -4.22 |
Source: FE Fundinfo; total returns in sterling calculated from 01/03/2020 to 12/03/2020
Carnival holders L&G UK Special Situations Trust (3.02%) and Rathbone Income (2.91% ) are down 11.52% and 8.33% respectively over the period.
