Woodford and Invesco top list of ‘dog’ funds . . . again

Funds run by Woodford Investment Management, Invesco and Janus Henderson top the list of “dogs” in the latest analysis of Britain’s money managers by Bestinvest, the broker.

The long-running twice-yearly “spot the dog” report looks at the worst-performing funds over three years. To qualify, a fund must have underperformed its benchmark index in each of the previous three individual years, as well as by five percentage points or more over the entire period.

Overall, 59 funds, worth a combined £32.6bn, are classed as “dogs”, fewer than earlier in the year. This coincides with a strong six months for markets and a weak period in 2016 dropping out of range.

In total, the funds have raked in £306m a year in fees. Six huge funds alone are responsible for £18.5bn of investors’ cash.

Once again, the list is dominated by the beleaguered manager Neil Woodford, who is responsible for two of the six largest funds.

The £3.7bn Woodford Equity Income fund, which was suspended in June following a flood of withdrawals and an inability to sell his less liquid stocks, is the second-largest fund on the list. The worst performer of them all, it would have turned £100 into £80 over the past three years.

Mr Woodford was also responsible for the poor performance of the £1.3bn St James’s Place UK High Income fund, which would have left investors with £90 on an initial £100 invested three years ago. His firm was recently replaced as manager of the fund by Columbia Threadneedle and RWC.

The £7bn Invesco Income and £3.1bn High Income funds, formerly managed by Mr Woodford, are two of the three largest on the list. Run by his successor, Mark Barnett, the funds have many holdings in common with Mr Woodford’s portfolios. Invesco