Page 27 - DIY Investor Magazine - Issue 26

THIS YEAR’S TOP 20 GAINERS
Here are the best-performing investment trusts as of 16 November:
‘DRILLING DOWN INTO INDIVIDUAL SECTORS REVEALS WHY MANY INDIVIDUAL TRUSTS HAVE STRUGGLED’
It’s no real surprise that Asia (especially China), tech and biotech are the three themes running through most of these winners.
Specialising in gold and precious metals miners Golden Prospect deserves a mention for leading the commodity sector this year. When gold surged through $2,000 in the summer,
the trust was up 135% for the year, it’s slipped back since, but despite its gains still sits on a discount to net assets of 25%.
Hedge fund Pershing Square, run by Bill Ackman, is another one-off on the list. It rose 50% in 2019 and has repeated the feat, in 2020; Ackman bet that markets would fall when the pandemic began but profited from the recovery as well. With a market cap of around £6bn, it’s the third-largest trust after Scottish Mortgage and 3i.
BAILLIE GIFFORD’S INCREDIBLE YEAR
JPMorgan has three trusts in this top twenty, which is admirable, but Baillie Gifford accounts for eight; as well as the trusts that carry its name, it also runs top-performer Pacific Horizon, Scottish Mortgage, Edinburgh Worldwide, and Monks. The four other trusts it runs are also in positive territory, namely Japan (+21%), Scottish American and Schiehallion (both up 10%), and its UK trust (+7%).
Baillie Gifford’s open-ended funds have also done exceptionally well as many of them mirror the strategies used by its investment trusts; of its 23 open-ended equity funds, 22 have enjoyed a positive return this year.
OLD TRUSTS, BIG TRUSTS
Another notable theme across the top twenty trusts is that many are of significant size and have been around for a
long time; Golden Prospect is the smallest at £30m but the next smallest are Augmentum Fintech (£190m), Montanaro European (£250m), Baillie Gifford China Growth (£260m), and International Biotechnology (£320m).
After that, we’re up to around £500m, which is the level many regard as the minimum necessary to attract interest from wealth managers and give a trust a better chance of long-term viability.
Investment trust
Pacific Horizon
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust
JPMorgan China Growth & Income
Scottish Mortgage
Fidelity China Special Situations
Golden Prospect Precious Metals
Allianz Technology
Baillie Gifford European Growth
Baillie Gifford China Growth
Biotech Growth
Edinburgh Worldwide
JP Morgan Japanese
Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon
Pershing Square
Polar Capital Technology
International Biotechnology
Montanaro European Smaller Companies
Augmentum Fintech
Monks
2020 YTD % return
109.2
90
85.4
77.1
68.6
66.7
60.9
56.8
55.5
54.5
54.2
51.9
47.1
46.1
37.8
34.2
32.9
31.1
30.4
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
Buy
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
it now
JPMorgan 30.1 Taiwan
Buy it now
27 DIY Investor Magazine | Dec 2020