Top 20 investment trusts revealed

Aberdeen New Dawn ranked highest of all the fund manager’s trusts in the top 20, coming in third place in terms of performance over the past 10 years. Hugh Young has managed the fund since 1989.

In terms of sector, the top 20 is dominated by trusts in the UK Smaller Companies and Asia Pacific ex. Japan sectors, with seven and five of the top 20 trusts belonging to each respectively.

The best-performing trust, Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies, is in the Asia Pacific ex. Japan sector. Fund manager Susie Rippingall was at the helm for almost 13 years, retiring in April this year. The company has outperformed the average for nine out of the past 10 years, producing a total return of £875.31 on £100 over 10 years.

F&C Global Smaller Companies is in third place, producing greater returns than the average in nine out of the past 10 years. Fund manager Peter Ewin has been in charge for eight years.

Ewin said: “Assessing which companies have the right management in place to deliver on their potential is key. Given liquidity issues it is important to take a long term view on investments in this area, and to focus on companies with the ability to generate positive internal cash-flow to allow them to develop successfully in the future”.

The top 20 investment companies are shown in the table below.