Woodford points to second wave of disruptors for performance uplift on PCT in 2018
Full-year results
Neil Woodford's £736m Patient Capital trust saw a much-needed pick-up in performance in 2018 as a number of its success stories, many of which are unlisted companies, are "gradually beginning to account for a larger portion of assets".
In its final results for the 12 months to 31 December, released this morning, the board revealed many of the trust's unquoted holdings - which represent 65% of the portfolio - saw significant progression over the year.
In turn, this contributed to the trust's net asset value (NAV) increasing 6.9% from 91.33p to 97.61p over the year.
Is a 'spectacular' rebound on the cards for Woodford in 2019?
Woodford said: "We have been pleased with the operational progress being delivered by the majority of companies in the portfolio.
"The portfolio's success stories are gradually beginning to account for a larger proportion of assets, so this has meant that the contribution from the positive uplifts was significantly greater than the contribution from the negatives."
Meanwhile, the manager added several of the more mature companies in the portfolio are now at a stage where a stockmarket listing would appear appropriate.
He said: "Indeed, several of them are well beyond the stage at which, historically, an introduction to public markets would typically have occurred. We have encouraged these businesses to remain private for as long as possible.
"We are only comfortable exposing these businesses to the slings and arrows of a stock market listing if we are confident that it can be done in a manner that will not compromise their ability to fulfill the potential that we have always seen in them."
This comes after a difficult start to the life of the trust, which launched in 2015, and rising concerns from investors that the manager was overexposed to private companies.
Concentration risk has also been a concern as the valuations of some of the trust's larger investments - accounting for a total of 15% of the portfolio - means, following a market event, short term volatility may be created.
Susan Searle, chair of the board, said: "As the top companies in our portfolio move through points of inflection in forthcoming years, we would expect this to be more strongly reflected in NAV.
"The valuation of some of the company's largest investments are sensitive to achieving key milestones and we have seen, as with Prothena, the detrimental impact this can have on the portfolio when they are missed.
"However, Autolus's stockmarket listing highlights the impact success can have and the manager believes that many more of the portfolio companies are set to deliver this year. The board will be monitoring performance closely at what is an important stage of the company's life cycle."
Since its launch in April 2015 to 4 April 2019, the trust is down 18.8% versus a return of 26.5% for its AIC UK All Companies sector average according to FE. However, over 2018, the trust was only down 2.8% and ahead of its sector average loss of 8.8%, highlighting the start of this turnaround.
Woodford Patient Capital is currently trading on a discount of 16.6%.
About the author
Jayna is senior reporter and investment trust correspondent at Investment Week. She joined the publication in August 2015 after graduating with an MA in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Kent.
Jayna holds the NCTJ diploma and has experience in print, online and broadcast journalism. She is responsible for the Investment Week monthly podcast.
