Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 14 March 2025
We reveal the biggest investment trust discount changes over the past week.
14th March 2025 10:23
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).
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.
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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.
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Two investment trusts backing early stage private companies feature at the top and bottom of the top 10 table this week. The Baillie Gifford-managed Schiehallion Fund (LSE:MNTN) saw its discount widen by nearly 7 percentage points to -25.5%, while the discount for Petershill Partners (LSE:PHLL) jumped 3.5 percentage points to -27.9%.
Both were among the top 10 best-performing investment trusts in 2024, however both are in the red year-to-date. This could be a reflection of investors taking risk off the table amid uncertainty over Donald Trump’s trade wars.
Over one year, Schiehallion Fund is up 38.9%, but is down -10.8% year-to-date. Petershill Partners is up 41.1% over one year, while producing a small loss of -4.4% so far in 2025.
When interest rates started rising at the end of 2021, higher-risk investments became less appealing as yields on lower-risk bonds increased and interest rates rose on cash accounts.
Towards the end of 2023, market expectations on the future direction of interest rates changed. This was several months ahead of the Bank of England cutting rates. Since the narrative changed on interest rates, high-growth stocks have been staging a recovery.
| Investment trust | Sector | Current discount (%) | Discount/premium change over past week* (%) |
| Schiehallion Fund (LSE:MNTN) | Growth Capital | -25.47 | -6.80 |
| Aberforth Geared Value & Income (LSE:AGVI) | UK Smaller Companies | -14.63 | -5.10 |
| Invesco Global Equity Income (LSE:IGET) | Global Equity Income | -2.12 | -4.70 |
| Riverstone Energy (LSE:RSE) | Commodities & Natural Resources | -41.19 | -4.70 |
| Middlefield Canadian Income (LSE:MCT) | North America | -7.95 | -4.50 |
| Pantheon International (LSE:PIN) | Private Equity | -40.41 | -4.40 |
| HgCapital Trust (LSE:HGT) | Private Equity | -7.28 | -4.40 |
| abrdn Property Income Trust (LSE:API) | Property - UK Commercial | -49.83 | -4.30 |
| Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income (LSE:RCOI) | Debt - Direct Lending | -21.15 | -3.60 |
| Petershill Partners (LSE:PHLL) | Growth Capital | -27.89 | -3.50 |
Source: Morningstar. *Data from close of trading 6 March 2025 to 13 March 2025.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. 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.