Woodford's pharma holdings lag market in Q1

Neil Woodford's heavy overweight pharmaceutical position on the Invesco Perpetual Income fund dragged the portfolio into the bottom quartile during the first three months of the year.

The head of investments, (pictured), and manager of some £20bn in assets in the income funds, said pharmaceuticals lagged the markets in the first quarter despite groups posting strong results. "The pharmaceutical sector, in which the fund is heavily overweight, failed to match the rise in the stock market over the quarter as investors favoured sectors more geared to economic growth. Meanwhile AstraZeneca's 2011 results showed a dividend increase of 10% and a larger than expected share buyback programme in 2012 of $4.5bn, confirming the value we see within the sector." Invesco Perpetu...