LF ASI Income Focus (ex Neil Woodford)

[Pipsmum]

The aftermath of Neil Woodfords leftovers have been chugging away in the hands of Asset Link Solutions since the 13th Feb under the name of LF ASI Income Focus. Myself and my unfortunate son (his first investment ever) suffered over a 50% loss to all our investments in this as a result, but not so badly off as my dad who owned one of his other two that got sold off completely.

This fund is now in the capable hands of Thomas Moore and Charles Luke who are repositioning the folio. They inherited this semi dead fish and then got covid chucked at them as well. Not doing such a bad job so far, as the graph line is gradually going up and showing a 3 month profit of 2.21% on the HL site.

Here is the link to the portfolio breakdown as it stands, which doesn't look bad to my inexperienced eyes.

https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discoun ... d-analysis

However when looking around at these sorts of managed funds, it seems like a very good deal at the moment. Seeing as the fund is operating at less than half it's original price, I've decided to put what is showing up as a current 'loss' back in as a new investment. Then in theory it will cover the ground lost by the original... or that is the plan anyway.

As the market is depressed at the moment, then it makes sense to invest as much as is comfortable in the hands of better investors than myself. Tinkerings with penny shares aren't doing badly overall, but are a pretty dodgy method for proper sensible long term financial planning.

Here are some prices of funds that I hold for comparison. Not necessarily similar, but to show how cheap these currently are.

LF ASI Income Focus = 46.37p
HL Select UK Income Shares = 95.28p
HL Select Global Growth Shares = 125.77p
HL Select UK Growth Shares = 140.26p
iShares Emerging Markets Equity Index = 170.60p
HSBC FTSE 250 Index = 250.53p
Lindsell Train Global Equity = 267p

Any reasons not to think this of this fund well in it's recovery, or is cut price getting less value?

[Bathonian]

Hi Pipsmum,

One thing I would say is that the price of the fund does not determine how "cheap" it is. It is just a function of the NAV of the fund, divided by the number of units in issue. So the fund price is a bit of a red herring.

The other thing I would say is that you should ask yourself whether you would invest in this fund if you hadn't ended up here by accident because of Woodford. If the answer is no, then perhaps you should look to add to funds elsewhere. If yes, then by all means go ahead and invest but have a look at what the investment strategy is for the fund and make sure you are happy with what they set out.

Cheers

[Pipsmum]

I'm looking at this fund again this morning to monitor its progress. It's slow and steady improvement so far.

I did make a further investment to the approximate tune of my showing loss at the time because
a) the companies invested in looked sound to my inexperienced eye
b) it seems managed by reputable managers
c) it paid a reasonable dividend
d) I hate seeing such horrendous negative red figures so wanted to improve the view for personal morale only

I don't have enough knowledge to make a decision on much more than that from the information I can readily read. Plus I took heed of your advice and invested in the others too. Not just this one.

Top 10 holdings are :-

Assura Assura Ord GBP0.10 4.97%
BHP GROUP 4.92%
NATIONAL GRID 4.60%
ONESAVINGS BANK PLC Common StockGBP.01 4.12%
JOHN LAING GROUP 4.11%
CLOSE BROS GROUP 4.08%
RELX 4.03%
ASTRAZENECA 4.03%
WEIR GROUP PLC (THE) 4.02%
GLAXOSMITHKLINE 3.84%

It isn't my best performing fund of those originally listed, but when I bought the difference from the original £1 share price, the price was 46.37p on 19/8/20 which then dropped further two months later to 43.16p on 29/10/20 but now has improved to the tune of 53.11p today.

I never know if I'm doing the right thing but at least the new part of this investment has moved upwards and hopefully, eventually, the original deficit can be repaired faster. It'd be really rotten luck for a fund to get destroyed twice. Hopefully this Woodford thing is a rare occurrence.

[GrahamPlatt]

Just make sure you’re holding this in a tax-sheltered account.

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=27300&hilit=Accumulation

https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discoun ... cumulation
“In some cases the ongoing savings are provided by our loyalty bonus. Loyalty bonuses are tax-free in an ISA or SIPP. However, they may be subject to tax in a Fund & Share Account which would, in effect, reduce their value and increase the net ongoing charge.”

Edit... It looks like I have the wrong fund there, and that you hold the “vanilla” option.

[Pipsmum]

In the ISA wrapper. Same fund pattern but I've got the income version.

https://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discoun ... ome/charts