We are aware that many of our clients will have picked up much in the press lately around the recent significant under performance of this fund.

Please be re-assured that Cullen Wealth have not recommended or supported this fund for investment, and based upon our advice, clients are unaffected by both its performance and suspension.

We have for a long time warned our clients of the potential dangers of relying upon individual, actively managed, stock focused funds. In our view, too much discretion is left with individual fund managers, selecting, and relying upon a relatively small number of stocks, in specific markets, or sectors, to achieve their investment objectives.

Such a strategy can of course have its advantages when managers “get it right” (as, to be fair, Mr Woodford has done very successfully, with different funds historically), but it is the periods when fund managers “get it wrong” that can have damaging effects on both short and long term performance.

At Cullen Wealth, we prefer to work with risk levels that we, and our clients, both agree and understand, to which our investment partners are bound to adhere, aimed at delivering consistent risk based returns over time to our clients.

We employ a fundamentally different philosophy to that of Mr Woodford, based upon:

• Huge diversification across global markets and several fund managers
• The use of index funds, wherever possible, for market exposure (the polar opposite of “Active Funds”)
• Very close management of risk within tight boundaries, based upon agreed client objectives
• A major focus upon investment cost, in the belief that “Active Funds”, in many cases, do not justify the fees charged in terms of realised long term performance.

We are unaware of any clients that may have been affected by the LF UK Equity Income Fund, but remain, of course, available to any client that may be concerned, or might like to talk to us.