City of London, JPMorgan Global Growth & Income and the F&C investment trust were among the five most-viewed investment trusts on the AIC’s website last year.
With three out of five of these trusts offering a yield in excess of 3.6%, and a further trust having earned the accolade of the AIC’s Dividend Hero for its income pay-out’s growth, the firm said income was a dominant theme for investors throughout the year.
“As interest rates come down it’s no surprise that investors are seeking investment trusts with long track records of dividend growth to meet their income needs,” the AIC’s communications director Annabel Brodie-Smith said: “Although dividends are never guaranteed, one of the many benefits of investment trusts is their ability to pay dividend income to investors even during tough times.”
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Below, Portfolio Adviser uses data from FE fundinfo and the AIC to look at the five trusts attracting the most attention during a turbulent year for investors.
City of London investment trust
Headed up by Job Curtis, this £2.8bn trust resides in the IT UK Equity Income sector. Having increased its dividend every year for the last 59 years – earning it a Dividend Hero badge – Curtis predominantly in UK large caps, although it is able to invest across the cap spectrum. Largest individual holdings currently include HSBC, Shell, British American Tobacco and NatWest Group, all of which yield in excess of 4%.
City of London has achieved a top-quartile total return of 85.7% over five years, putting it in third place out of 18 of its peers. It is first and second quartile over one and three years respectively, with gains of 30.7% and 46.5%.
It currently yields 3.9% and trades on a 1.9% premium to its net asset value.
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income
With total assets of £3.5bn, JPMorgan Global Growth & Income was the second most-viewed investment company of 2025. The trust, which invests in global equity income stocks, is co-managed by Helge Skibeli, James Cook and Sam Witherow.
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Benchmarked against the MSCI ACWI, the trust has found itself in third place out of its six peers for total returns of 45.6% and 78.3%, respectively, over three and five years. While it underperformed the benchmark’s three-year gains of 54.3%, it has comfortably outperformed the ACWI by 8.5 percentage points over the last half-a-decade.
JGGI is trading on a 1.9% discount to NAV, and yields 4%.
F&C investment trust
Having been launched 158 years ago, F&C investment trust is the oldest existing investment trust.
The £6.7bn trust has been managed by Columbia Threadneedle’s Paul Niven since 2014. Residing in the IT Global sector and benchmarked against the FTSE All-World index, it aims to produce a growing stream of income through a diversified portfolio of stocks. The largest of these are currently Nvidia at 5%, Microsoft at 3.4% and Apple at 2.5%.
It is in the top quartile for its total return relative to its average peer over five years, with gains of 71.9% compared to its sector average’s return of 25.7% and its benchmark’s gain of 70%.
It has marginally underperformed its sector average over three years however, with third-quartile gains of 37.7%.
FCIT currently yields 1.3% and is trading on an 8.2% discount.
Scottish Mortgage investment trust
Baillie Gifford’s behemoth offering was the AIC’s fourth most-viewed trust last year. Tom Slater’s £14.6bn global equity investment company adopts an unconstrained approach to investing in both public and private companies, with a focus on “exceptional” growth stories. It is relatively concentrated, with its top 10 holdings accounting for 42.5% of the overall portfolio.
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Largest holdings currently include Space Exploration Technologies at 8.2%, TSMC at 5.2% and MercadoLibre also at 5.2%.
The trust has suffered a torrid performance over the last half-a-decade, having lost 3.3% while its FTSE All World benchmark gained more than 70%. However, it is comfortably in the top quartile over one and three years, having almost tripled the returns of its average peer over the last 12 months.
SMT currently trades on an 8.3% discount to NAV and yields 1.3%.
Murray International Trust
This 50-stock investment trust, owned by Aberdeen Investments, also has seven fixed income holdings. Benchmarked against the MSCI ACWI High Dividend Yield index, it aims to offer investors an above-average dividend yield as well as long-term dividend growth and capital ahead of inflation. Largest stock holdings include Philip Morris at 3.3%, CME at 3.2% and AbbVie at 3.1%. It also holds some smaller positions in South African and Mexican government bonds, alongside some corporate allocations.
This trust has resided in the top quartile for its total returns, relative to its average peer, over one, three, five and 10 years. It is in first place within the sector over the last year, having tripled its sector average and doubled its benchmark with gains of 29.8%.
Headed up by Martin Connaghan and Samantha Fitzpatrick, the trust yields 3.6% and trades on a 0.6% discount.
