Neil Woodford, the star' fund manager who in August pumped £7m into the Purplebricks.com online agency, has turned out to be top of his class for returns.
An assessment of UK equity income funds over the past six months shows Woodford's own fund, Woodford Equity Income, to be the most successful with backers gaining 7.4 per cent.
Woodford's fund made much of its return by backing pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in its battle to fend off a bid from Pfizer, and from investing in tobacco stocks which - arguably against expectations - have risen in recent month.
Over the summer Woodford's decision to back Purplebricks won derision from some traditional estate agents, but the investment supremo - who quit Invesco Perpetual early in 2014 and attracted billions from small investors when he set up on his own - backed what he called the highly disruptive online agency model.
Purplebricks, set up in April this year, allows vendors to sell for fees from £599. It also targets landlords, offering a tenant-finding service for a one-off fee of £199.
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