Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: March 2025

In the last month before tax year end investors largely stuck to familiar strategies, with just two new entries in our top 10 table of the most-bought investment trusts.

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One of those new entries, City of London (LSE:CTY, is no stranger to the top 10. It is managed by veteran fund manager Job Curtis, and this ‘Steady Eddie’ investment trust is a reliable dividend payer, having increased payouts each year since 1966. Curtis mainly sticks to FTSE 100 companies that demonstrate good prospects for growing their profits and dividends.

Describing his approach, Curtis says: “Our style is that we’re quite conservative. We believe in companies with strong balance sheets and good cash generation. Those sorts of companies are best able to both grow their dividends and also invest enough for the future, for future profits’ growth and sales growth.”

City of London consistently appears in our top 10, but dropped out last month. However, it has now returned to the rankings. In contrast, the other new entry, JPMorgan European Growth & Income (LSE:JEGI), has never appeared in the top 10 since we started compiling the rankings in 2018. Its entry, in eighth place, comes as European shares enjoy a moment in the sun. Various European stock markets have made a strong start to 2025, with low starting valuations attracting those looking to switch some of their investments out of the US market.

As our columnist Ian Cowie pointed out last week, JPMorgan European Growth & Income is the top performer in its six-member sector over the past five-year and one-year periods. Its yield is 4.3% and its annualised five-year dividend growth is 17%.

The trust is is managed by Zenah Shuhaiber, Alexander Fitzalan Howard, and Timothy Lewis. The trust’s holdings include ASML Holding NV (EURONEXT:ASML) and Schneider Electric SE (EURONEXT:SU) for AI exposure, as well as drugmaker Novo Nordisk AS ADR (NYSE:NVO) and Nestle SA (SIX:NESN), the largest food and beverage manufacturer in the world by sales.

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Polar Capital Technology (LSE:PCT) and Assura (LSE:AGR), the healthcare REIT, both exited the top 10.

While the top 10 has lost a technology specialist, the sector remains well-represented with Scottish Mortgage (LSE:SMT) remaining in pole position, and Allianz Technology Trust (LSE:ATT) rising one place to seventh.

In 2023 and 2024, the “Magnificent Seven” stocks pushed markets higher, but in the first quarter of 2025 this trend reversed, with US shares suffering from the economic risks associated with tariffs and a lack of certainty about President Trump’s policies.

As a result, it has been a painful three months for Allianz Technology, down -16.3%. It holds six of the Magnificent Seven in its top 10 holdings: Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Facebook-owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). 

Scottish Mortgage has held up much better, down just -1.2% over three months. It isn’t a technology trust, but does have a lot of exposure to tech trends and themes. It invests in global businesses, including up to 30% in private companies that are tapping into technological advancements.

Unchanged in second place is Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW). As the name suggests, it invests in UK wind farms, and aims to provide investors with a yearly dividend that increases in line with RPI inflation. It has successfully achieved this each year since  launch in 2013.

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It was recently announced that longstanding fund manager Stephen Lilley will step down from the investment trust at the end of April. Lilley has been manager of the renewable infrastructure trust since launch in 2013 alongside Laurence Fumagalli, who stepped down around a year ago.

Greencoat UK Wind is joined in the top 10 by peer Renewables Infrastructure Group (LSE:TRIG). It invests in wind farms, solar parks and battery storage projects in the UK and Europe.

Over the past couple of years, interest rate rises have boosted bond yields, which has put pressure on infrastructure and property investment trusts as returns from lower-risk bonds compete with strategies that aim to generate a steady income for shareholders. This has resulted in sizeable losses over the past three years, with The Renewables Infrastructure Group down -18.7% and Greencoat UK Wind down -16.5%. Investors buying today will be attracted to the sky-high yields, both currently over 9.5%, and will be hoping for a significant shift in sentiment to improve the overall total returns.

JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI) remains in third place. It aims to outperform the MSCI All Country World index over the long term. It is “style neutral”, meaning it does not favour value or growth, for example. It holds 50 “best idea” stocks, and looks to trim its winners and recycle the money into underperformers that it still has conviction in. The trust makes quarterly distributions with the intention of paying dividends totalling at least 4% a year.

Multi-manager strategies Alliance Witan (LSE:ALW) and F&C Investment Trust (LSE:FCIT) are in fourth and sixth place respectively. Alliance Witan, managed by Willis Towers Watson, asks a selection of external fund managers to pick 20 of their best ideas. F&C mainly using in-house managers from fund firm Columbia Threadneedle. It is overseen by Paul Niven, who decides on the asset allocation and gearing level.

The duo recently reported their latest full-year results (for financial year to 31 December 2024). F&C had the edge, with a net asset value (NAV) return and share price total return of 21% and 16.9% versus 13.3% and 14.3% for Alliance Witan.

• Read the F&C annual results write-up
• Read the Alliance Witan annual results write-up

In ninth place is 3i Group (LSE:III). Focused on private equity and infrastructure, this trust appeals to those seeking high-growth opportunities in alternative investments. Beware though, it trades on a 52% premium to its net asset value and is very concentrated in just one company, European discount retailer Action. Its position in Action has been very successful, which has led to strong returns over both one and three years, up 31.2% and 184.8%. 

Top 10 most-popular investment trusts in March 2025

Performance data sourced from FE Analytics. Performance data to 31 March 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of March. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.