Neil Woodford denied another payday as his Woodford Patient Capital Trust failed to perform for investors last year

Renowned fund manager Neil Woodford was denied another payday today, as the annual results of his Patient Capital Trust revealed poor performance.

The trust, which is dedicated to long-term investments in a mix of high risk early stage companies and “high conviction” larger businesses, saw its net asset value per share slump by two per cent over 2017.

In order for Woodford to take a cheque home, he would have had to return more than 10 per cent.

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“We are building some great businesses, and although this progress has not yet flowed through in terms of share price and net asset value performance, I continue to strongly believe that it will,” said Woodford in a note to investors.

The directors of the trust also did not receive any boost in the fees they earned, collectively receiving £99,000.

When raised in 2015, the trust was the largest ever such launch in the UK attracting £800m of investors’ cash. Now it has a market value of just over £600m.

Its shares are currently trading at 76p apiece – well below the trust’s stated end-of-March net asset value of 87.41p.

A number of Woodford’s investments have failed to perform, including most recently Prothena. The biotechnology company’s share price crashed yesterday as it revealed it had cancelled the trial of a new drug.

His equity income fund has also floundered, as £1.6bn was wiped off its market value in the first three months of 2018 alone following investors pulling out their cash.

Read more: Neil Woodford throws his weight behind Provident… and he had to