Woodford vs Barnett: Two new equity income 'beasts'?

UK Equity Income

Stick with Mark Barnett or follow Neil Woodford? It is a question which has plagued investors since the latter set up his new fund in June. But working at separate companies, in the same fund sector, could see these managers become two different investment ‘beasts' entirely

The question of whether to ‘follow the star fund manager' is something which has plagued investors for a long time.  When Skandia chose to do this recently by closing its Invesco Perpetual income mandates, run by Mark Barnett, in favour of his predecessor Neil Woodford's new fund, it was quickly forced to do a U-turn. The group had announced last month it would switch the money from the Invesco funds into Woodford's new income fund, which was launched in June, in response to "client demand". The announcement had spurred others to comment that many were likely to replicate this decisio...