Woodford seeks resilience as equity markets weaken

Neil Woodford, manager of the £2.52bn Invesco Perpetual High Income and £714m Invesco Perpetual Income funds, has adopted a defensive position, seeking out companies able to demonstrate resilience in the face of a sustained period of weak equity markets. That will be important, Woodford said, in addition to finding companies able to maintain or grow dividend levels, as the anticipated global economic recovery will be anaemic and shallow. Currently, the UK equity markets carry an annual dividend bill of £40bn, compared to the S&P 500 bill of around $40bn, a 42% lower yield from a market f...