Woodford to run Edinburgh investment trust

The Edinburgh investment trust has appointed Invesco Perpetual's head of investments Neil Woodford as its new manager.

Woodford will replace Fidelity's John Stavis, who announced in June that he was taking a six-month sabbatical. The higher income portion of the trust has been singled out as failing to meet expectations.

As the largest UK income growth investment trust, with assets of approximately £1bn, the Edinburgh investment trust focuses mainly on large UK companies, from a variety of sectors and aims for its capital growth to outperform the FTSE All-Share and its dividend growth to beat the UK inflation rate.

Scott Dobbie, chairman of the Edinburgh investment trust, said: "Invesco Perpetual has extensive experience and an excellent reputation in managing closed ended funds and Neil Woodford has an outstanding track record in managing UK equities. We look forward to working with Neil and the Invesco Perpetual team."

Graeme Proudfoot, head of specialist funds at Invesco Perpetual, added: "We are thrilled to have been appointed by the the Edinburgh investment trust. At Invesco Perpetual we aim to deliver an innovative and top-performing range of funds and we look forward to demonstrating our ability, and the expertise of Neil Woodford, to the shareholders of this company."

To comment, contact Beth Brearley on 0207 034 2721 or email: elizabeth.brearley@incisivemedia.com