Three weeks in and investor rage
IT MIGHT be 21 days since Woodford Investment Management suspended dealings in its Equity Income fund, but investor anger remains red hot,
writes TOBY WALNE. Not just at Woodford but fund platform Hargreaves Lansdown that included it as a ‘best-buy’ right up until the fund’s suspension early this month.
Jon Tuckett, from Devon, says: ‘Hargreaves Lansdown has behaved disgracefully. It put the money it made from recommending the fund ahead of any real concern for the best financial interests of investors.’
He also says it is scandalous that research director Mark Dampier cashed in £5.6million worth of shares in Hargreaves – most held in his wife’s name – just before the crisis unfolded.
The 64-year-old former finance director adds: ‘Dampier said deciding to keep Woodford in the top 50 recommended funds gave him sleepless nights. But it’s a bit late for that – and what about the sleepless nights Woodford investors are now experiencing.’
Jon has not lost money himself, though his 91-year-old mother has £2,000 trapped in Woodford Equity Income. He is singularly unimpressed that Woodford continues to take a management fee on the fund, equivalent to £100,000 a day.
He adds: ‘It seems that having Woodford Equity Income within its own HL Multi-Manager Income & Growth fund may have clouded judgment. If the broker had criticised Woodford it might have felt it was damaging its own brand.’
Writer Edmund Tirbutt, from Halifax in West Yorkshire, invested £20,000 in Woodford Equity Income. The 61-year-old says: ‘Hargreaves Lansdown seems to be big on investing in star fund managers – and such promotions attract money, so it is clearly a commercial interest.’
Edmund, who is married to Helen, 54, adds: ‘I put my money into Woodford as he is a contrarian with a proven track record for making money.’