Neil Woodford

First State's Martin Lau has beaten stars including Invesco Perpetual's Neil Woodford and Neptune's Robin Geffen to see his Greater China Growth fund ranked the most consistent performer over the three years to the end of 2011.

A number of top fund managers took a hit on their portfolios this week as retail favourite Tesco issued a profits warning, sending its shares down 16% in a day - the largest fall since 1988.

Industry heavyweights Neil Woodford and Anthony Bolton have had contrasting fortunes running their closed-ended vehicles over the past year.

Invesco Perpetual's head of investment Neil Woodford said his favoured defensive blue chip names have recently delivered some confident trading updates, despite tough macroeconomic conditions.

Neil Woodford has revealed his "increasing concern" about the situation in the eurozone as he warns of a European credit crunch and the risk of the UK following Europe into recession next year.

GlaxoSmithKline and British American Tobacco, two of Neil Woodford's largest holdings, have reported rising revenues in the third quarter.

Warnings about banks, eurozone concerns and a high profile job for an ex-New Star manager were among our best read stories this week.

Neil Woodford said he has been completely ‘unsurprised' by the market sell-off and is no more concerned about the macro outlook than before the recent period of hightened volatility.

Zimbabwean investment company Masawara, which is backed by Neil Woodford in the £18.6bn Invesco Perpetual income funds, has raised $50m towards its capital target since IPO last year.

Jayesh Manek's £40m Manek Growth fund has soared to the top of the UK All Companies sector, losing just 2.5% in the last three months of excessive market volatility.