The trust’s net asset value (NAV) grew 8% in the first six months of the year, a turnaround in fortunes after previous falls of 4.2% in December 2016 and 12.2% in June 2016.
The share price also grew, rising 7% by June compared to a significant fall of 9.9% at the end of 2016.
Woodford said he was pleased the company’s underlying holdings had started to perform, restating he had known it was only a “matter of time” before progress showed up in valuations.
“It is pleasing that this has started to come through in terms of performance, but the share price and NAV progress we have seen in recent months is insubstantial in the context of what, I believe, lies ahead,” he added.
Turning to the individual holdings, Woodford said PurpleBricks, the online estate agent which makes up 10.91% of the portfolio, had shown “exceptional” growth throughout the year with shares trebling in price.
Other highlights Woodford noted were holdings in US biotechnology businesses Theravance Biopharma and Prothena as well as UK gene-editing business Horizon Discovery.
The struggling Allied Minds continued to be a drag on performance, but Woodford repeated his defence of the stock and added he remained a “strong supporter” of the intellecutal property commercialisation sector as a whole.
The results also show Woodford has not yet taken a fee for running the trust as it has not produced the cumulative returns of 10% or more it set out to produce at launch in 2015.
However, he remained confident on the “fundamental progress”.
“It is pleasing that this has started to come through in terms of performance but the best is yet to come, in my view,” he added.
