The big news today was that the Woodford Equity Income Fund is to be wound-up after a decision by Link Fund Solutions, the fund administrator. Neil Woodford has made known his opposition to the move but it is something I have advocated for some time. Decisive action was required because a fund that nobody wants to buy into and with a name on it that puts investors off is going nowhere. Blackrock and PJT Partners will take over the fund immediately and wind it down although it seems likely to be some months before investors receive any cash return. That’s just from the liquid listed investments. Some of the illiquid or small cap holdings could take much longer and valuations are questionable. Neil Woodford surely needs to retire.
What’s the moral of this story? That investors should keep a close eye on their fund holdings and not put up with poor performance for more than a short period of time. They should not have absolute faith in star fund managers however good their past records, and they should be more sceptical about recommendations from their share platforms.
The other issues to be looked at are the EU regulations on liquidity and how Woodford ignored the rules by listing stocks in the Channel Islands. The Financial Conduct Authority does also need to tackle the problem of open-funded funds holding unlisted stocks or property.
Another favourite holding of private investors has been Renishaw (RSW) whose stock price has been falling of late. This morning a trading statement indicated a sharp fall in revenue for the first quarter. The share price is down by 11% at the time of writing. The company’s statement is full of negative phrases – “reduced demand for our products”, “challenging global macroeconomic environment” and “trading conditions are expected to remain challenging”. I am glad I sold my holding some time back. Has the market for the company’s products changed, particularly in the APAC region? I don’t know but shareholders need to ask some tough questions and perhaps it is time for a change of leadership.
Other bad news was from Accesso Technology (ACSO) in which I still hold a few shares. This company had entered a formal sale process but it seems none of the offers received were considered good enough. The sale process is still on-going but the share price has fallen 15%.
But there was good news from DotDigital (DOTD) one of my “ten-baggers” which was first bought ten years ago. Sales and profits were ahead of expectations for the full year in a Final Results Statement. Revenues were up 19% and recurring revenues are now 86% of the total – the latter rose even higher in the first quarter of this year which “has started well” they say.
Investors Chronicle ran an article in last Friday’s edition on how to identify multibagger stocks. It focused particularly on pharmaceutical and resource stocks but these are very tricky sectors in reality. You might strike lucky with a blockbuster drug or exploration company but you can also lose a lot on failed projects. The better approach is simply to aim for companies that consistently grow revenues and profits like DotDigital. That company also meets the profile of the companies I like as documented in my recent book “Business Perspective Investing”.
DotDigital has strong IP, high customer loyalty, small transactions, diverse customers and high recurring revenue. What more do you want?
More good news from wealthy investors came as the Government announced it was to rethink the proposed change on probate fees – effectively scrap the major hike for large estates that was due to be imposed in April next year. The previous proposals generated a lot of criticism as it was seen as a new way to generate tax to go into Government coffers instead of an equitable fee to cover the cost of the work involved on larger estates.
I watched the Queen’s Speech yesterday for the first time live. The Queen has never been a great speech maker but she managed to turn what should be exciting announcements about future Government policies and programmes into a dull recital. Perhaps a change of management is required there also?
You can read her full text here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-2019 , although there is little that might affect investors directly.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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