reports
- James Carthew
Alliance Witan – Returns based more in reality than hope
Alliance Witan (ALW) has released its 2025 annual results, showing returns below its benchmark, the MSCI All Countries World Index (MSCI ACWI). This note looks at the reasons for this underperformance. ALW’s manager, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), says markets are now too focused on short-term trends and momentum, with valuations rising for unprofitable companies based on hope, rather than strong business fundamentals. In contrast, ALW’s companies generally have stronger results than the wider mark...
- James Carthew
NextEnergy Solar Fund – New focus on total returns
As we explain in this note, NESF has found itself in a difficult place. No bidders emerged during the strategic review and a wide discount to NAV lowers its enterprise value, which limits its ability to buy back shares under the USS preference share covenant. While asset sales have helped reduce debt, weak demand for mature assets means this is not a quick solution and a managed wind down is not possible. As NESF needs cash, reducing the dividend is seen as the best option. The board and adviser...
- James Carthew
BlackRock American Income Trust – On the up
BlackRock American Income Trust (BRAI) has performed well both in absolute terms and compared to its benchmark since our last update in November 2025. Although the strategy is still new, early results are promising. BRAI uses a value index as its benchmark, so it holds fewer of the large AI-focused US companies that dominate broader indices. This has helped recently, as investors are starting to question whether these companies can maintain their high levels of investment and whether this inv...
- James Carthew
India Capital Growth Fund – Some welcome improvements
India Capital Growth Fund (IGC) is asking shareholders to approve replacing its biennial (every other year) redemption facility with five-yearly performance-based tender offers. This change aims to help the adviser take a longer-term approach to investments. The board also plans to introduce a new dividend policy, paying out about 2% of NAV as a dividend, with the aim to grow this over time if possible. Shareholders who prefer to reinvest rather than receive income can use a dividend reinvest...
- Richard Williams
BlackRock Throgmorton – Stronger together
BlackRock Throgmorton (THRG) and BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) have announced plans to merge, creating a larger, more liquid, and lower-cost trust. The combined trust is to be managed by BRSC’s Roland Arnold and THRG’s Dan Whitestone, both highly experienced in UK smaller companies, and is expected to provide a platform for future growth. The portfolios are already well aligned with 75% overlap in their stocks, which should make the merger process smooth. The management fee is to b...
- Richard Williams
Polar Capital Technology – At the foothills of an AI mountain
Over the past year, Polar Capital Technology (PCT) has strongly outperformed its benchmark, with its NAV total return nearly double that of the Dow Jones Global Tech Index. This reflects the success of its bold AI-focused strategy, where it has taken large positions in lesser-known companies expected to benefit from AI infrastructure bottlenecks, while selling those it sees as less promising. This approach has driven strong returns recently and helped PCT avoid losses as markets reacted to pl...
- James Carthew
GCP Infrastructure – Delivering on its promises
GCP Infrastructure (GCP) is now over 15 years old. Investors who joined at IPO have already received back their full investment through dividends. The NAV has stayed fairly stable, and from launch to December 2025, GCP delivered a total NAV return of 187%. Despite this strong record, GCP’s shares have traded at a wide discount to NAV for several years, which has pushed the dividend yield up to 9.1%. For the past two years, GCP has been selling assets to cut debt, fund share buybacks, and impr...
- David Batchelor
HSBC Multi Factor Worldwide Equity UCITS ETF – Global equity exposure ...
HSBC Multi Factor Worldwide Equity UCITS ETF (HWWA) is a well-established active ETF that highlights the benefits of this asset class. Using a proven factor investing approach, explained later in this report, it has consistently delivered modest outperformance against its global equity benchmark. Despite a brief setback during the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements in April, global equities had another strong year in 2025, with gains spread more widely than before. HWWA outperformed its be...
- Richard Williams
Oakley Capital Investments – Southern Europe strategy plays to strengt...
Oakley Capital’s recent investment activity highlights its ability to leverage its strengths in Southern Europe, where many industries are ripe for digital transformation and private equity involvement is low. A key example is Oakley’s investment in Spanish legal tech firm vLex. After investing in 2022, Oakley helped vLex develop its artificial intelligence (AI) platform and expand into the US. The company was sold for $1bn, becoming one of the few Spanish tech start-ups to reach unicorn stat...
- James Carthew
Vietnam Holding – Back this horse
Vietnam has largely overcome the effects of US tariffs and is pushing ahead with reforms to support its target of double-digit annual GDP growth through to 2030. While one of Vietnam Holding (VNH)’s comparator indices rose 28% in 2025, more than half of this was due to a single company that VNH does not hold. Despite strong growth prospects, most of the Vietnamese market is still attractively priced, with VNH’s portfolio trading at a forecast P/E of just 9.5x at the end of December 2025. This...
- David Batchelor
Fidelity Emerging Markets – The long and short of emerging markets
Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited (FEML) gives investors access to a wide range of emerging market shares. The managers have a flexible approach, investing in companies of all sizes and spreading investments across different countries and sectors. A key feature is the use of both long and short positions, allowing the fund to benefit from opportunities in both strong and weaker companies. Performance has been strong over the past year, supported by favourable conditions for emerging markets. ...
- James Carthew
Global Opportunities Trust – Cash pile grows as valuations climb
Strong performance from Global Opportunities Trust’s equity portfolio drove solid NAV growth in 2025. Shareholders also benefited as the trust’s discount to NAV narrowed, though it remains wide. Noting higher valuations in the portfolio and broader market, the manager took profits and increased cash, leaving the trust ready to act if markets fall. The trust is no longer self-managed, which should allow greater flexibility with the use of both gearing and derivatives. Currently, the manager...
- Richard Williams
Lindsell Train Investment Trust – Durability in times of volatility
Market volatility at the start of 2025 – brought about by tariff uncertainty and the release of the Chinese AI model DeepSeek – provided an interesting snapshot into the potential performance of the companies that Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LTI) and its manager, Lindsell Train Limited (LTL), invest in during times of market stress. The durability and resilient cash flows, which are hallmarks of LTL investments, proved popular with investors, with many holdings recording large share price g...
- David Batchelor
European Opportunities Trust – European winners, global exposure
European Opportunities Trust (EOT) remains the most growth-focused fund in its peer group. This is at a time when there are increasing signs of this style of investing coming back into favour, as inflation remains under control and interest rates trend down. More widely, Europe seems to be coming back on to the radar of investors, not least because of the policy whiplash that has accompanied Donald Trump’s second presidency, and its impact on the US market. Nonetheless, the managers are not simp...
- David Batchelor
Caledonia Investments – Public matters
On 24 June Caledonia Investments (CLDN) hosted a public companies spotlight event, where the managers presented in detail on the company’s global portfolio of publicly listed investments. This element of the portfolio has a strategic allocation of between 30% and 40% of net asset value (NAV), currently making up 33%. Around 30 companies are held across two portfolios, with a capital portfolio accounting for 72% of the total and income 28%. The target return is 10% per annum for the capital portf...
Polar Capital Global Healthcare – Recovery play
When we last published on Polar Capital Global Healthcare (PCGH), President Trump had just been elected, and while there were some nerves about Robert F. Kennedy Jr (RFK) being linked to the top job in the US health system, the mood was reasonably upbeat. The managers observed that the sector’s fundamentals (underlying financial and operational health of the sector, such as revenue growth and profitability) were strong, stocks looked cheap, and cautioned against worrying about the impact of poli...
Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust – Significant catch up potential
After three challenging years, there are now signs that sentiment towards both growth stocks and the wider UK market is improving. Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK) has been a clear beneficiary of this, delivering a marked uptick in performance over the past year. The tide may be turning, but UK equities in general – and growth names in particular – remain deeply out of favour versus their global peers. This leaves significant catch-up potential if conditions continue to improve, particular...
AVI Global Trust – No shortage of targets
AVI Global Trust (AGT) offers a distinct investment proposition from its peers, focusing on opportunities to extract value from undervalued companies where structural reform could unlock value. The weighted average discount on the underlying portfolio is close to historically wide levels, reflecting a number of attractive opportunities that the manager has identified. Activism in holdings such as Chrysalis, Gerresheimer, and Third Point Investors, and the ability to capitalise on “special sit...
Fuel for (AI powered) thought
Pantheon Infrastructure’s (PINT) portfolio is focused on areas of secular growth. It helps both enable and take advantage of technological progress and global connectivity. It is also supporting the shift towards more sustainable energy generation. The success of its approach is particularly evident in the area of data centres – the focus of much of this note – where PINT is directly exposed to the voracious demand for energy to power the unfolding Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution. AI mod...
- Richard Williams
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure – Strategic refresh
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure (FGEN) has set out its strategic focus over the medium term that will centre on core renewable energy generation assets. This will see it sell its growth assets once operations have ramped up and valuation maximised. This will provide the company with capital allocation flexibility and allow it to invest the sales proceeds into assets that display attractive income characteristics such as visible, stable and secure long-term revenue with inflation linkage (...
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