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This the worse closely followed by WBI .
Now 15p
Last buy 4th May 2020 for 22p small number might of been a partial execution.
Last deal sold a traunch 18th May 2020 for 25p ( I had topped up 28/4/20 at 23p ) which was a mistake for 11 months as share continued rise to 39p topping 6th April 2021.
But with more hindsight a good sale as it slid past 25p 9/3/22 to today's 15p.
Maybe an Idea to move to ISA and wait .
I think a large reason for the ongoing depression and substantial discount here is that Woodford's Equity Income Fund and Patient Capital Fund (I remember there were 3 in total including what is now SUPP) have holdings in common so Link are under pressure to liquidate and return money to the other 2 funds. If you look at Benevolent AI for example this is noted under the "news" articles there.
SUPP, meanwhile, is faced with ongoing selling pressure almost despite how the companies are doing. We know ONT is not doing great but other holdings like Atom Bank, Reaction Engines are actually real gems. I'm happy to hold here because the selling will end during 2023 (the new article talks to mid 2023). To sell out in depressed markets wouldn't be a smart move.
.....When Woodford called it Patient Capital, he wasn't kidding.
Here’s my tuppence worth. The 3 Woodford entities were Woodford Equity Income Fund , Woodford Income Focus Fund and the forerunner of this trust, WPCT. Sadly, I've been in all 3 at various times. The Income Focus fund concentrated almost exclusively on large cap income payers and I don't think it had any holdings in common with the trust. The Equity Income Fund, his main entity, did have holdings in common: before the fund's demise, in an effort to improve liquidity in the face or redemptions, Woodford pulled off a stunt whereby he packaged up most of the fund's holdings in common with the trust (the illiquid ones), and 'sold' them to the trust in return for shares in the trust. The result was that the trust doubled up on a number of esoteric holdings, including a load of really dodgy stuff, and also ended up with an overhang of its shares as the fund set about selling the newly 'acquired' shares. I remember this financial engineering by Woodford to save his back caused a lot of disquiet among investors in the trust. The stunt didn't ultimately work for the fund either because, as we all know, Kent County Council shortly came in with a redemption request for £230m worth of units and that was that. The point is, I don't think there were many (or any) holdings in common left when Link set about liquidating the main fund... and if they were, I'd have thought they'd have been long sold off by now... unless you know different Agricore? Certainly, Link didn't try to sell them to SUPP (like Woodford had to WPCT).
So, in terms of what's depressing the NAV or causing the persistent discount, I don’t think it’s the overhang of stocks in common which Link are trying to sell, because I don't think it exists anymore. For me, the reasons are to do with lingering doubts over the quality of the Woodford legacy portfolio along with growing doubts about Schroders after 3 years in charge. To underline my point about Schroders, the 1st thing they did, to reduce the trust's debt, was sell some good quality biotechs to a specialist healthcare investor who quickly sold them on for double or triple what they paid us. That didn't help sentiment. Then, their first stock pick was JMT, which I remember they lauded pompously in some blurb as a world beating UK disruptor, etc, etc, and then it promptly crashed 30% following a profit warning or news they were getting out of batteries or some such. That also didn't help sentiment! Actually, have any of their picks done well? More recently we've had the appalling 'administrative error' in the valuation of Benevolent AI in the books of SUPP, which knocked a few pence off the NAV, and which caused Schroders to sack Link and bring valuations in-house. I don't know about you all, but somehow that didn't fill me with confidence (neither the mistake itself, nor the bringing of valuations in-house).
The whole history leaves a bad feeling that the Schroder Juniors are treading water with this trust - happy managing the decline and picking up the juicy 1% management fee (based on the NAV, not market cap, note), and with no performance fee. One thing I loved about the old WPCT was that it was paid 100% out of performance fees… with a 10% p.a. hurdle.
It’s going to take a lot to turn SUPP around. Only ‘loss aversion’ (or the sunk cost fallacy or whatever they call it) – something I’m badly afflicted with – keeps me from getting out at what would be a big loss.
Thankyou unhooked , Just noticed your comments after posting on BWNG board .
You appear to be a genuine poster .
Cheers ripley, I do my best although I often feel like I'm flailing in the dark!
Interesting times over at BWNG..