Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: December 2024
Global investment trusts were popular again last month, while mining and renewable energy also attracted investors’ cash.
2nd January 2025 13:02
by Sam Benstead from interactive investor
Taking the top spot this month, Scottish Mortgage has seen a resurgence in popularity over the past year, following a difficult period for the growth-focused trust.
While the discount is still a chunky -13%, the shares have risen nearly 19% over the past 12 months, although its three-year return of -27.5% reflects the challenges faced by growth stocks when interest rates rose suddenly in 2022.
- Invest with ii: What is a Managed ISA? | Open a Managed ISA | Top Investment Trusts
Scottish Mortgage invests in both listed and unlisted companies, so long as they have the potential to rapidly grow their revenues and profits.
Manager Lawrence Burns recently recorded a video interview with interactive investor where he discussed the performance record and also the stocks he believes will be next to reach a $1 trillion (£800 billion) market cap.
- The investment trust winners and losers in 2024
- Watch our video: Scottish Mortgage on Elon Musk, private firms and cutting Nvidia
Scottish Mortgage has similarities with Polar Capital Technology Trust, the 10th most-bought trust last month, which also has the likes of Meta, Nvidia and TSMC in its top 10 positions. This technology trust is also on a wide discount of -11.4%, despite having no exposure to unlisted companies.
Greencoat UK Wind dropped one place to second. With a yield of nearly 8%, it generates an income for shareholders from renewable energy assets. This income stream is linked to inflation, meaning that investors should see their dividend growth match rising prices in the economy.
The other renewable energy trust on the list last month was NextEnergy Solar, in eighth place.
In a recent video interview with ii, Stephen Rosser, investment director, gave an overview of the specialist solar energy and energy storage fund, which has a high dividend yield of nearly 13%.
Three “core” global investment trusts held the third, fourth and fifth most-bought spots on our December list: JPMorgan Global Growth & Income, Alliance Witan and F&C.
They all own diversified portfolios of global equities, with the JP Morgan option running the portfolios itself, whereas ALW and FCIT opt for a “multi-manager” approach, where the stock picking is outsourced to specialist fund managers.
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income leads the trio with a one-year return of 19.8% and a three-year return of 39.6%. Alliance Witan follows with a one-year return of 13.7% and a three-year return of 28.7%, while F&C delivered a one-year return of 16.9% and a three-year return of 25.3%.
- Fund manager predictions for US, UK and other markets in 2025
- Watch our video: Kyle Caldwell’s investment trust ideas for 2025
Remaining in ninth place, 3i Group stands out with a stellar one-year return of 50.1% and an impressive three-year return of 168.9%, the highest on the list. Focused on private equity and infrastructure, this trust appeals to those seeking high-growth opportunities in alternative investments.
Beware though, it trades on a 60% premium to its net asset value and is very concentrated in just one company, European discount retailer Action.
City of London and BlackRock World Mining are both popular with income investors. Yielding 4.8% and 7%, they were in joint sixth place last month.
CTY invests in UK shares that have high dividend yields, while BRWM invests in the resources sector, where yields tend to be high due to large cash flows from selling commodities.
JPMorgan American dropped off the most-bought list last month.
Top 10 most-popular investment trusts in December 2024
Rank | Investment trust | Change on last month | One-year return (%) | Three-year return (%) |
1 | Up one | 18.7 | -27.5 | |
2 | Down one | -10.2 | 7.5 | |
3 | No change | 19.8 | 39.6 | |
4 | No change | 13.7 | 28.7 | |
5 | Up one | 16.9 | 25.3 | |
=6 | New entry | -13.6 | -2.5 | |
=6 | Down two | 10.6 | 25.1 | |
8 | No change | -22.8 | -18.6 | |
9 | No change | 50.1 | 168.9 | |
10 | No change | 34.3 | 27.7 |
Source: interactive investors/FE FundInfo, data to 31 December 2024. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of December.
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.