magazine archive
magazine archive
Investment Trusts
Why Nick Train is excited about digital winners, the domestic stock market and drinks giant Diageo
Thursday 06 Feb 2025With a sense of anticipation Shares scurried along to Finsbury Growth & Income Trust’s (FGT) latest AGM (annual general meeting) at London’s Guildhall on a wet and windy day (28 January), where shareholders turned up in droves and one or two left the assembled board members squirming in their...
Saba loses first round as Herald shareholders vote down resolutions
Thursday 30 Jan 2025On 22 January, as Shares was preparing to go to print, the board of Herald Investment Trust (HRI) announced all of the resolutions put forward by activist investor Saba Capital had been defeated. The meeting was a first test of whether shareholders would stand by the boards of the trusts called out...
Discover the best and worst investment trusts in 2024
Thursday 19 Dec 2024Investment trusts have experienced challenges this year, with discounts remaining wide across various sectors and some consolidation occurring. However, certain trusts have performed well compared to both the wider market and their peer group. This article highlights the top performers across four...
Reassessing the Scottish Mortgage investment case
Thursday 24 Oct 2024This is the first time for a long time that Scottish Mortgage (SMT) has underperformed its FTSE All-World Index benchmark over five years, the timeframe the trust’s Baillie Gifford manager believes is most useful. It might not be the case as you read this feature, such are the daily ebbs and flows...
The dividend champion investment trusts going cheap
Thursday 17 Oct 2024A central bank interest rate cutting cycle is well underway, the Federal Reserve having slashed US rates by 50 basis points and further cuts expected from the Bank of England following August’s 25 basis point reduction. Falling rates mean lower rates on cash and bonds, so this seems like a sensible...
Have JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets shareholders jumped the gun?
Thursday 12 Sep 2024Recent years have been dire for shareholders in long-duration assets, with rising interest rates driving a de-rating of high-yielding alternatives trusts including infrastructure and real estate-focused funds to deep NAV (net asset value) discounts. But there is now potential for significant re-...
Is bigger better when it comes to investment trusts?
Thursday 05 Sep 2024Eight months in, 2024 is already a record year for M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the investment trust sector. Trust boards are increasingly focused on value for money and shareholder returns amid persistently wide discounts to NAV (net asset value) and with activists nosing around. A major...
Alliance Trust to absorb Witan in blockbuster £5 billion deal
Thursday 04 Jul 2024Two of the biggest investment trusts are combining in the sector’s largest-ever merger, with Witan (WTAN) to be rolled into Alliance Trust (ATST) in a mega-deal expected to complete later this year. The combination of these two FTSE 250 constituents will create ‘Alliance Witan’, an investment trust...
Using a private equity approach to public markets
Thursday 20 Jun 2024There are several fund managers who run extremely concentrated portfolios with the aim of having meaningful stakes in companies allowing them to actively influence and support management. This strategy is broadly akin to that of a private equity investor putting money into an unlisted firm. The...
Revealed: the rare investment trusts trading for more than their assets are worth
Thursday 16 May 2024Discounts and premiums to NAV (net asset value), which is the value of all the investments an investment trust holds minus any debt or loans, are among the trust universe’s unique quirks and can confuse novice investors. At the moment the vast majority of trusts trade at a discount. Annabel Brodie-...