About 300,000 investors in the stricken Woodford Equity Income Fund are expecting to hear today how much they will get back in a first reimbursement - from what financiers winding down the fund have managed to raise.

It emerged earlier this month that Oxford-based Neil Woodford and his business partner pocketed £13.8m in dividends in the year before the crisis that led to the demise of his fund empire.

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The dividend haul was revealed in accounts filed with Companies House for Woodford Investment Management for the last full financial year before the suspension of the flagship equity income fund in June.

Mr Woodford received nearly two thirds of the payout – about £9m – for the year to March 31, thanks to his 65 per cent ownership of Woodford Investment Management.

Chief executive Craig Newman picked up £4.8m.

The news came as at least 300,000 investors remained trapped in Mr Woodford's Equity Income Fund, which is being wound up.

Woodford Investment Management is also being wound up, marking the end of the fund manager's career as a star stock picker.

The dividend payouts were made despite a dire performance by the flagship fund.

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The accounts show that Woodford Investment Management's pre-tax profit more than halved to £18.4m in the year to March 31 2019, from £41.7m in 2017-18.

Bottom-line profits slumped to £16.3m from £33.7m the previous year.

In the accounts filing, the firm blamed the "under-performance in the Woodford Equity Income Fund combined with a period of sustained and negative press coverage" for the fund's suspension.

The suspension came after lots of investors tried to take cash out quickly.

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The fund had invested in assets which were difficult to sell off quickly, making it vulnerable when investors tried to withdraw their cash.