Woodford’s flagship fund finds footing; smashes £10bn mark

Neil Woodford’s flagship fund found its footing in February and broke the £10bn barrier as the reflation trade began to lose its shine.

Woodford’s flagship fund finds footing; smashes £10bn mark

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“The prospect of renewed excitement about a sustained improvement in the economic growth trajectories of some of the world’s key economies cannot be completely discounted in the near-term,” he said.

“However, the prospect of such an outcome actually materialising is even more remote.

“We have witnessed several iterations of the reflation trade over the course of the last eight years but, ultimately, they have all fizzled out when the hoped-for sustained and dramatic improvement in economic fundamentals has failed to arrive.

“We strongly believe that the same will happen this time and indeed, that fizzling process may have already started.”

News of Woodford’s £10bn milestone coincided with the launch of his third vehicle, the Woodford Income Focus fund, which opened to investors Monday.

Woodford said at a launch party last month that the new vehicle would have a starting yield of 5% and be even more concentrated than his flagship fund, holding around 50 stocks, 20 of which do not feature in his other funds.