Former Neil Woodford protégé Mark Barnett has made a funds industry comeback with the launch of the TM Tellworth UK Income and Growth fund.

The new vehicle provides Barnett with the chance to rebuild a reputation tarred by a period of underperformance that resulted in his inglorious departure from Invesco by mutual agreement in 2020, before he resurfaced at UK equity boutique Tellworth in April 2021.

Seasoned investor Barnett will run TM Tellworth UK Income and Growth alongside co-manager Johnnie Smith. The low turnover fund will consist of between 40 to 60 holdings and will focus on attractively valued firms delivering free cash flow that can translate into a growing stream of dividend income. The new UK equity income fund will invest across the market with a large and mid-cap bias and will pay monthly dividends.

In a video on the Tellworth website, Barnett said valuation is ‘an important gatekeeper for inclusion in the portfolio’.

With liquidity considerations front and centre, the fund will avoid unquoted companies. Barnett also stressed the fund will have ‘pretty strict parameters’ around the number of small companies he can hold in the portfolio.

Investors may have to wait a month or so before the initial portfolio is disclosed but historically Barnett has favoured sectors such as tobacco and insurance.

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