Schroders takes over Woodford – but does change always work?

What happens when one of the most respected fund managers loses you thousands of pounds taking high-risk bets on poorly performing stocks? Neil Woodford investors have the answer to that question after Schroder Investment Management was appointed to take over the Patient Capital investment trust. The trust’s share price jumped 25pc on the news.

Schroders will run the investment company with the same strategy and rename it the Schroder UK Public Private Trust.

But does management change guarantee recovery? Or should investors bail out now before it’s too late? To shed some light, Telegraph Money has analysed the performance of 10 of the most high-profile fund handovers to see how they fared after the transition.

Three funds generated lacklustre returns, performing worse than the rest of their peer group since the change. The worst was managed by F&C Asset Management (now BMO Global Asset Management) prior to May 2005. Since Witan took over, the shares in the fund have grown 267pc, while rivals returned on average 406pc.

The second poorest performer was

also managed by F&C before February 2010. Under the management of Edinburgh Partners, shares have returned 105pc versus a sector average of 167pc.

has also struggled, although it has had little more than a year to prove itself.

Schroders stepped down in June of last year and since then shares have fallen -8.3pc, while peers fell -3.9pc on average. Conversely, three firms managed to trounce rivals since taking control.

posted a 473pc share price total return since taking over from Framlington (now Axa Investment Management) in July 2008. Its peer group has returned 236pc on average. The second-best performer was run by

Frostrow Capital, which returned 204pc since taking over from F&C in July 2010. Over the same time, the sector returned 133pc.

473% Share price total return from BlackRock Throgmorton since 2008

has also performed well, posting returns of 229pc after taking over from previous managers Aberdeen Standard Investments in August 2009. Its sector rivals returned 168pc in the decade since then.

The remaining four funds beat rivals, but fell short of the sector’s top performers.