Woodford Patient Capital Trust share price sinks amid writedown
Neil Woodford suffered a fresh blow today as shares in his listed investment fund dropped after it was forced into a writedown of the value of a holding.
Woodford Patient Capital Trust’s (WPCT) share price sank 3.7 per cent in early trading after administrator Link marked down the unnamed holding.
Read more: Woodford Trust and Metro Bank booted off FTSE 250
The trust warned investors it would hit the net asset value (NAV) to the tune of 4p per share.
That would leave WPCT’s NAV at 68.85p per share from 72.85p at the close of business on 11 September. The figure is expected to be confirmed today.
Shareholders are set to discover which stock WPCT downgraded later today.
“The board is unable to comment further on this revaluation at this time due to confidentiality obligations, but it will provide a further update to the market when able to do so,” WPCT said.
WPCT dropped off the FTSE 250 last week amid huge scrutiny over former star fund manager Neil Woodford’s performance on stocks this year.
The fund’s board is mulling a possible replacement for Woodford to manage the company.
Meanwhile Woodford sold off £1m of his own investment in the fund but did not tell the trust for three weeks, risking a spat with the board.
Woodford’s top ally, Steven Harris, has also resigned from the board, leaving Woodford with few friends at his eponymous listed trust.
The latest writedown comes after Link and IHS Markit cut their valuation of the trust’s stake in Industrial Heat, a cold fusion energy developer.
The pair drove down their valuation by 40 per cent three weeks ago, reducing WPCT’s NAV by 3.4p per share.
Read more: Woodford loses £43.5m in fire sale from frozen fund
Woodford has lost at least £43.5m selling off stocks from his frozen Equity Income Fund.
The stockpicker had assured investors that the suspension would make it less likely he would have to accept lower prices as he unloaded shares.