Woodford Investment Management
In April 2014, Woodford left his role as head of UK equities at Invesco Perpetual to set up Woodford Investment Management LLP.[9][10] In April 2015, he launched Woodford Patient Capital Trust, a listed investment trust.[11] Woodford Investment Management launched a second Equity Income Fund in April 2017, LF Woodford Income Focus.[12] Woodford owned 29% of the ill-fated Utilitywise.[13]
In March 2019, after two years of poor performance during which fund assets contracted by more than £5 billion, the Sunday Times carried out an investigation into the fund. It found the fund held less than 20% of assets in FTSE 100 companies compared to over 50% when it was created, and over 20% of assets were in small Alternative Investment Market companies.[14][15] On 4 June 2019 trading in Woodford Investment Management’s largest fund (the Woodford Equity Income fund) was suspended. There had been large withdrawals of funds by many investors.[16] Following this, St. James's Place plc terminated Woodford's contract to manage three of its funds, valued at £3.5 billion.[17] The FCA has launched a formal investigation into the suspension. A Woodford spokesperson said: “We can confirm we have been contacted by the FCA, regarding its investigation relating to the events that led to the suspension … and will be co-operating fully with its investigation.”
On 15 October 2019 the fund board announced that Woodford's flagship fund, Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), was to be shut down and Woodford had been removed as investment manager.[18] The following day Woodford announced he would resign from his remaining investment funds and close his investment company in an orderly fashion.[19] Around 300,000 people had invested in the WEIF, including 130,000 through the Hargreaves Lansdown investment site.[20]
On 3 June 2022, a case was filed against the fund's administrators, Link Fund Solutions, claiming that they failed to properly supervise the investments.[21] Further claims against Link were made by Harcus Parker, representing 7,000 investors and seeking an estimated £18m in damages, and Leigh Day, representing 12,000 investors.[22] In April 2023, following a Financial Conduct Authority investigation, the administrators agreed to pay up to £235m to help regulators compensate customers who had lost their savings.[23] The first payments were made in March 2024.[24]
In October 2022, claims firm RGL also filed a High Court claim on behalf of an initial 3,200 investors against Hargreaves Lansdown, which had promoted the WEIF.[25] By November 2024, RGL said the number of people suing Hargreaves Lansdown had almost doubled in two years, to over 5,000, and could reach 10,000 by March 2025.[20] Hargreaves Lansdown had rejected the first set of RGL claims in 2022 "for lack of a substantive basis of claim".[20]
In August 2025, the FCA fined Woodford nearly £6m, and banned him from holding senior manager roles and managing funds for non-professional investors. The FCA also fined his fund, Woodford Investment Management (WIM), £40m. As both Woodford and WIM appealed against the decisions, the FCA's findings are provisional. The FCA said Woodford and WIM had made "unreasonable and inappropriate investment decisions".[26]
