CF Woodford Equity Income celebrates third anniversary in top position

5th June 2017 – CF Woodford Equity Income celebrated its third anniversary on Friday by being the best performing fund in its sector over the three years.

Launched on 2nd June 2014, the much-anticipated first offering from Neil Woodford at his start-up fund management boutique, attracted an initial £1.6 billion.

Three years later, it now has £10 billion in assets under management and has beaten the other 77 funds in its category, returning 38.85% (compared with an average of 25.81%) and turning a £1,000 investment into £1,388.50*.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing though. Neil didn't own oil and gas companies or banks last year and his performance took a knock accordingly, as these sectors bounced back from their lows. Instead, he favoured healthcare and tobacco companies. He has consistently had an overweight position in these sectors and, over the three years of the fund's life, they have been rewarding holdings.

Neil is actually more positive today about the outlook for UK equities than he was three years ago. He thinks the market has been too pessimistic post the EU referendum and, while we're still not in a 'normal' economic environment and the valuation of the UK's stock market is quite high, he believes our companies can thrive and deliver over the long term – you just have to pick the right ones.