The five new hidden gems Woodford is backing

Invesco Perpetual's head of investment Neil Woodford has begun building new positions in a number of businesses across his £25bn fund range over the past year.

Over the past couple of years Woodford (pictured) has backed a number of UK start-up businesses, accounting for around 4.2% of his income portfolios, as he identifies exciting opportunities in areas of the UK small-cap space. The small positions in a basket of firms including the likes of Nexeon, a battery technology firm, have the potential to significantly re-rate over the long term, the manager said. In his £1.3bn Edinburgh investment trust, Woodford has added five new holdings over the past year, the majority of which are early stage UK technology firms. Here Will Deer, product...