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Litigation specialist RGL Management is determined to hold investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown to account for the role it played in persuading investors to buy the Woodford Equity Income investment fund before its suspension in June 2019 and its subsequent dissolution.
RGL has told me that more than 2,000 plaintiffs have been added to the Superior Court group lawsuit filed against the estate administrator in October 2022 and that the number of plaintiffs now exceeds 5,000.
RGL says the action is for losses investors suffered as a result of the platform recommending the Woodford fund, run by Neil Woodford, up until the day it was suspended.
This is despite Hargreaves Lansdown becoming increasingly concerned about the liquidity of the fund’s portfolio, making it difficult for the fund to meet redemption requests.
The aim of the claim is to compensate for capital losses that investors have suffered despite a £230m compensation scheme negotiated by the regulator.
Slap: Neil Woodford, founder of Woodford Investment Management
He will also claim the loss of the opportunity to invest in alternative investment funds that would have generated positive returns.
RGL insists another group of claimants will be added in the new year and that the group’s final claim is likely to exceed £200m. Average claims will be around £20,000 including interest.
Anyone who has invested in Woodford Equity Income through Hargreaves Lansdown can find details on how to join the action at woodfordlitigation.com.
No fees will be charged unless RGL is successful. So far Woodford has received nothing more than a slap on the wrist from the regulator for his part in turning his £3.7bn fund into a basket case.
He currently happily shares his views on markets and economics with visitors to his website.
Poor rail services now ‘a bit like a lottery’
Thank you for all your emails about poor quality train services. I write this article after a painful morning sitting on a Great Western train crawling towards London Paddington like a caterpillar as a result of a broken track in the Slough area.
Although many readers who use the same Bournemouth to Manchester service echoed my terrible weekend experiences at the hands of CrossCountry (delayed trains, truncated trains, canceled trains), state train operator Northern has few friends.
A reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me a spreadsheet detailing the unreliability of Northern’s stopping service on a Sunday, between Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly.
In the last six months, a third of services have been cancelled.
“It’s a lottery whether your train will arrive and, if it does, how late,” he hissed.
In defense of the train operators, I will say that some employees work under extreme pressure.
The other morning, on the first Avanti West Coast train leaving Birmingham New Street, I observed an inspector checking passengers’ tickets. People pretended to be asleep or claimed their phones (which contained their tickets) had run out of battery.
He made an announcement as soon as he completed the ticket verification on our carriage. “So far nine passengers have pretended to sleep or have not provided tickets,” he said (our carriage was the first one he checked).
‘Please get off at the next stop if you don’t have a ticket and buy one.
“Inland Revenue officers will be waiting in Euston to fine those without fines.”
I felt for her, I really did.
Brunner Stock Trading Is Consistency
The Brunner investment fund is enjoying good shape, which translates into strong demand for its shares. In fact, it is the only global trust whose shares trade at a premium to its underlying assets.
Although the £625m fund takes its name from the Brunner family, who still own around 30 per cent of the shares (the late Sir John Brunner was instrumental in the formation of industrial giant ICI in the 1920s), It is managed by Allianz Global Investors.
Last week, co-director Julian Bishop spoke to Wealth about the premium shares and the trust’s strong performance: its shares are up 40 per cent last year, up 79 per cent in the last five.
Family seat: The Brunners bought the 16th-century Grays Court, near Henley, Oxon, in 1937.
He believes the fund’s pragmatic investment approach has struck a chord with investors looking for a long-term, hassle-free home for their money. The result is a stable shareholder base. The fund does not adopt a specific investment style: growth, quality or value investing. “As managers we prefer to be adaptive, rather than ideological,” says Bishop.
And he adds: ‘Markets are dynamic. The key for us is that every stock we own must be cash generating and have longevity. We want to invest in companies that will be around forever.’ Key holdings include Microsoft and Visa, dominant forces in their respective markets.
45 per cent of the trust is invested in North America and the remainder mainly in the UK and Europe. UK-listed companies InterContinental Hotels Group and Shell are among its top 20 holdings.
Bishop warns: ‘In the United States, valuations are entering uncomfortable territory. Our job as managers is to protect investors from the madness of the crowds while remaining part of the success story of American capitalism.’
The trust’s emphasis on cash-rich companies is reflected in a consistent dividend, paid quarterly. It’s an absolute certainty that Brunner will soon reach its 53rd consecutive year of dividend growth. Global trusts Alliance Witan, Bankers and F&C have slightly longer dividend growth records, but none match Brunner’s five-year yields.
Consistency is the key for Brunner. Some, including the Brunner family, who donated their family seat Grays House in Henley on Thames, Oxon, to the National Trust, would say it is a perfect central holding.
Lowest Rates Expose Scammers
Falling interest rates are causing scammers to spring out of the woodwork hoping to trap savers with what appear to be spectacular fixed-rate deposit accounts. Nothing could be further from the truth: part with your money and you’ll never see it again.
Among the deposit traps doing the rounds is one (allegedly) from RBS International (part of NatWest) offering three deals, ranging from a fixed 6.2 per cent over one year to 7.5 per cent over five years. The minimum deposit is £10,000.
Parts of the explanatory brochure are taken from the real RBS International website, but are used falsely. For example, the ‘CEO statement’ is nothing more than a summary of his career.
The prospectus also can’t decide how much protection savers will get if things go terribly wrong. Figures of £80,000, £85,000 and £250,000 are mentioned. The correct answer is missing: Zero.
One reader accepted the invitation to speak with an “advisor” but said the individual was “a bit of a broad guy” and thought better of parting with his money. Thank God for that. NatWest has confirmed to Wealth that the bonus was a scam.
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