Woodford blames defensive sectors for underperformance

Invesco Perpetual's Neil Woodford has blamed the underperformance of traditionally defensive sectors ...

Invesco Perpetual’s Neil Woodford has blamed the underperformance of traditionally defensive sectors for his funds plummeting to the bottom of the UK Equity Income sector. Describing performance year to date as disappointing, the manager said he is not much behind the market but has delivered fourth-quartile performance. High Income and Income rank first and second respectively over five years to 7 April, according to Morningstar. But over three months they rank 81 and 87 out of 90 in the peer group, delivering -13.3% and -14.1% to the sector’s -10.9. Woodford suggested this is due to ...