Your vote counts: the investment trust AGMs in November 2023

November is set to be a busy month for annual general meetings (AGMs) in the investment trust sector. That means various sectors on display, with funds active in everything from infrastructure to more “vanilla” global equity investing.

AGMs are often ignored by private investors, but they provide a great opportunity for you to engage with managers, hear their thoughts on markets, and vote on important steps that the investment trust might take and, thus, impact you as a shareholder.

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We’ve picked out three investment trusts holding their AGMs next month, to give you some idea as to what the sector offers and how your vote can be used to influence a trust’s decision-making.

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies (LSE:BASC)invests in US small-caps, a sector often overlooked by investors, despite historically superior returns over larger companies and, arguably, the more attractive valuations currently on offer. One of the key votes at the AGM next month will be on share issuance. This is a common vote at trust AGMs, where shareholders are asked to approve the board to issue new shares, if the trust trades at a premium, without first offering them to existing shareholders. That can sound more malicious than it is, with the practice being standard in the sector and enabling trust boards to expand their shareholder base more easily.

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JPMorgan Global Growth & Income

Another interesting trust holding its AGM next month. JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (LSE:JGGI) has grown its assets under management substantially in the past couple of years, following mergers with Scottish Investment Trust and JPMorgan Elect. At the trust’s AGM next month, shareholders will be asked to approve a decision to reduce JGGI’s share premium account. Without going into too much detail, the share premium account is typically the result of shares being issued at a premium to their nominal value. UK company rules mean that these funds cannot be distributed to shareholders as dividends or for a range of other activities, unless otherwise approved by shareholders. The JGGI vote aims to free up this capital, so that it can be used to provide returns to shareholders in the future, or for other corporate activity.

Pacific Horizon

The final trust we’re looking at invests in companies across Asia. Investors will be asked to approve a range of resolutions next month, including re-electing the trust’s existing board members, a share buyback policy, and Pacific Horizon (LSE:PHI)’s dividend policy for 2024. Another area to watch here, even if it is not voted on, are the trust’s private asset holdings. PHI shareholders voted in 2021 to increase the maximum amount, as a proportion of NAV, that the managers could hold in private assets. Private assets have had a tough time since, so there is likely to be discussion of this at the meeting.