Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 10 January 2025
We reveal the biggest investment trust discount changes over the past week.
10th January 2025 12:36
by Kyle Caldwell from interactive investor
Investment trusts, due to their closed-ended structure, offer investors the chance of picking up a potential bargain. Such an opportunity arises when a trust’s share price is lower than the underlying investments held by the trust (the net asset value, or NAV).  Â
However, a trust trading on a discount to NAV is not necessarily a buying opportunity. There’s likely a good reason why the trust is cheap, such as subdued short- or long-term performance, or poor investor sentiment towards how it invests.  Â
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In our weekly series, interactive investor highlights the 10 biggest investment trust discount moves over the past week.
In total, nearly 400 investment trusts have been screened, with the data sourced from Morningstar. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have been excluded. We also strip out trusts with less than £20 million in assets and those that are not available on the interactive investor platform.Â
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Global equity trust Brunner (LSE:BUT), which a week ago was in the small club of investment trusts trading on a premium, has moved on to a discount.
The trust, whose management group is Allianz Global Investors, experienced an eight percentage point move to -6.7%. Over one, three and five years, it outperformed its benchmark, which is split 70%/30% between the FTSE World ex-UK index and the FTSE All-Share index. Top holdings include technology stocks Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
Private equity-focused HgCapital Trust (LSE:HGT) was another trust that moved from a premium to a small discount of -1.9%.Â
Two specialist trusts, Syncona (LSE:SYNC) and Eurocastle Investment (EURONEXT:ECT), were in second and third place. They are now trading on respective discounts of -49% and -32.3%.
Baillie Gifford US Growth (LSE:USA), one of the seven trusts being targeted by activist investor Saba Capital, features in the table. It moved from trading very close to par to a -6.3% discount. Saba Capital has called for the removal of board members at seven investment trusts in which it is the largest shareholder.
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| Investment trust | Sector | Current discount (%) | Discount/premium change over past week* (%) |
| Brunner (LSE:BUT) | Global | -6.7 | -8.0 |
| Syncona (LSE:SYNC) | Biotechnology & Healthcare | -49.0 | -6.8 |
| Eurocastle Investment (EURONEXT:ECT) | Debt - Loans & Bonds | -32.3 | -6.8 |
| Molten Ventures (LSE:GROW) | Growth Capital | -62.1 | -6.4 |
| Baillie Gifford US Growth (LSE:USA) | North America | -6.3 | -6.0 |
| Rights & Issues Investment Trust (LSE:RIII) | UK Smaller Companies | -8.8 | -5.6 |
| Foresight Solar (LSE:FSFL) | Renewable Energy Infrastructure | -37.0 | -5.5 |
| Bluefield Solar Income Fund (LSE:BSIF) | Renewable Energy Infrastructure | -30.3 | -5.3 |
| HgCapital Trust (LSE:HGT) | Private Equity | -1.9 | -5.0 |
| HICL Infrastructure (LSE:HICL) | Infrastructure | -28.4 | -4.9 |
Source: Morningstar. *Data from close of trading 2 January 2025 to close of trading 9 January 2025. Â
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Â Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. Â The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.