Woodford: Why I completely sold out of Tesco

Neil Woodford has for the first time lifted the lid on why he completely sold out of retailer Tesco, while admitting he was disinclined to do so with the stock trading at distressed valuations.

Tesco has been a stable holding in Woodford's portfolios since 2004 and according to Thomson Reuters data in March 2010 the manager was the fourth largest investor in the company, through his £8.6bn Invesco Perpetual Income fund. However, over the past twelve months Woodford has been steadily selling out of the holding. Writing in the Telegraph, Woodford said he placed too much confidence in the business's ability to cope with the economic headwinds. "Until recently, I believed that food retailers such as Tesco would prove more resilient to the travails of the UK consumer than thos...