Ace City investor Neil Woodford has published the full list of holdings of his recently launched CF Woodford Equity Income Fund.
Most funds, including Woodford’s old Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund, only give a complete list of holdings twice a year. But Woodford plans to publish the full portfolio every month, and is to be applauded for his transparency.
Similarities
Ahead of the launch of his new fund, Woodford said he intended to run it very much along the same lines as his previous Invesco funds. Woodford watchers will find many familiar names in the new portfolio. Most of the top 10 holdings, for example, match the top 10 in Woodford’s last Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund annual report.
Pharmaceuticals firms AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) continue to dominate with 8.3% and 7.1% weightings respectively, and are joined in the top 10 by Swiss group Roche.
If you fancy following Woodford’s judgement on AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, the former is trading on around 18 times forecast earnings with a yield of 3.8%, while the latter trades on 15 times forecast earnings with a 5.2% yield.
Tobacco is another sector on which Woodford has been a long-time bull. Old favourites British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) and Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT) are also prominent in the new fund with weightings of 6.2% and 5.2% respectively. They are joined in the top 10 by US group Reynolds American.
British American Tobacco is trading on 17 times forward earnings with a yield of 4%, while Imperial Tobacco trades on 13 times forecast earnings with a 5% yield.
|
Position
|
Company | Sector | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AstraZeneca | Healthcare | 8.3% |
| 2 | GlaxoSmithKline | Healthcare | 7.1% |
| 3 | British American Tobacco | Consumer Goods | 6.2% |
| 4 | BT | Telecommunications | 6% |
| 5 | Imperial Tobacco | Consumer Goods | 5.3% |
| 6 | Roche | Healthcare | 3.9% |
| 7 | Imperial Innovations | Financials | 3.6% |
| 8 | Reynolds American | Consumer Goods | 3.6% |
| 9 | Rolls-Royce | Industrials | 3.5% |
| 10 | Capita | Industrials | 3.4% |
| 11 | Allied Minds | Financials | 2.9% |
| 12 | BAE Systems | Industrials | 2.9% |
| 13 | HSBC | Financials | 2.8% |
| 14 | Sanofi | Healthcare | 2.3% |
| 15 | Legal & General | Financials | 2.1% |
| 16 | Novartis | Healthcare | 2% |
| 17 | Centrica | Utilities | 2% |
| 18 | AA | Consumer Services | 1.9% |
| 19 | SSE | Utilities | 1.8% |
| 20 | Reckitt Benckiser | Consumer Goods | 1.8% |
| 21 | Philip Morris International | Consumer Goods | 1.8% |
| 22 | Prothena | Healthcare | 1.7% |
| 23 | Next | Consumer Services | 1.7% |
| 24 | Altria | Consumer Goods | 1.3% |
| 25 | Smith & Nephew | Healthcare | 1.3% |
| 26 | BTG | Healthcare | 1.2% |
| 27 | Provident Financial | Financials | 1.1% |
| 28 | Drax | Utilities | 1.1% |
| 29 | Alkermes | Healthcare | 1% |
| 30 | Gagfah | Financials | 1% |
| 31 | G4S | Industrials | 0.97% |
| 32 | RM2 International | Industrials | 0.93% |
| 33 | Redde | Financials | 0.9% |
| 34 | Utilitywise | Industrials | 0.62% |
| 35 | Serco | Industrials | 0.59% |
| 36 | Meggitt | Industrials | 0.59% |
| 37 | Lancashire | Financials | 0.58% |
| 38 | Velocys | Oil & Gas | 0.55% |
| 39 | e-Therapeutics | Healthcare | 0.54% |
| 40 | Vernalis | Healthcare | 0.49% |
| 41 | ReNeuron | Healthcare | 0.48% |
| 42 | Cobham | Industrials | 0.48% |
| 43 | Burford Capital | Financials | 0.44% |
| 44 | Catlin | Financials | 0.43% |
| 45 | Benchmark | Healthcare | 0.43% |
| 46 | Amlin | Financials | 0.43% |
| 47 | 4D Pharma | Healthcare | 0.43% |
| 48 | Oxford Pharmascience | Healthcare | 0.35% |
| 49 | Revolymer | Basic Materials | 0.31% |
| 50 | Hiscox | Financials | 0.31% |
| 51 | Beazley | Financials | 0.29% |
| 52 | Gigaclear | Telecommunications | 0.29% |
| 53 | Paypoint | Industrials | 0.25% |
| 54 | Homeserve | Industrials | 0.09% |
| 55 | Retroscreen Virology | Healthcare | 0.09% |
| 56 | Xeros | Industrials | 0.07% |
| 57 | NetScientific | Healthcare | 0.05% |
| 58 | IP | Financials | 0.04% |
| 59 | Circassia | Healthcare | 0.03% |
| 60 | Stobart | Industrials | 0.03% |
| 61 | Cranswick | Consumer Goods | 0.01 |
Differences
The differences in Woodford’s new fund are perhaps as interesting as the similarities.
For one thing, Woodford had over 100 holdings within his Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund, with a long tail of very small holdings, many of which were obscure little companies, unknown to most investors. The new fund has a smattering of small caps, but is much more focused with a total of 61 holdings.
Furthermore, the new fund holds some companies at a much higher weighting than previously, while there are also a few companies that Woodford never previously held at all.
Imperial Innovations, a company that invests in start-ups founded on research coming out of the UK’s leading universities, has gone from being a 0.5% holding in the Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund to the seventh-largest holding in the new fund with a weighting of 3.6%.
A banks bear since before the financial crisis, Woodford has now re-entered the sector with a 2.8% holding in HSBC (LSE: HSBA), putting the company at number 13 in his portfolio. This global giant trades on just 11 times forecast earnings and offers a prospective income of 5.2%.
Less familiar new entrants that investors may want to take a look at include London-listed American investment company Allied Minds (no. 11 at 2.9%), recently floated roadside recovery firm the AA (no. 18 at 1.9%) and German property group Gagfah (no. 30 at 1.0%).
