Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: November 2024

There are two new entries in our table of the most-bought investment trusts in November. Kyle Caldwell reports.

2nd December 2024 13:30

Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) retains pole position for the second successive month.

The investment trust aims to provide investors with a yearly dividend that increases in line with RPI inflation. This has successfully been achieved each year since the trust launched in 2013. Its dividend yield currently stands at 7.9%.

Our top 10 ranking is based on the number of buys over the course of the month, and does not take into account volume.

Invest with ii: What is a Managed ISA? | Open a Managed ISA | Top Investment Trusts

Recent share price total return performance for Greencoat UK Wind has been underwhelming. This is due to this area of the market falling out of favour amid rising interest rates, which caused bond yields to move higher. As a result, income seekers have more options and can take less risk, as the safest types of bonds, UK and US government bonds, offer yields of about 4%.

However, for investors looking to buy back into the sector, particularly given that interest rates are starting to fall, there are some sizable discounts on offer. Greencoat UK Wind’s current discount is -20%.

Moving up one to second place is Scottish Mortgage (LSE:SMT). The trust invests in global businesses, including up to 30% in private companies, that are tapping into technological advancements. Over one year, its share price is up 31.6%, but losses of -36.7% over three years are sizeable. This is owing to its investment style suffering amid interest rate rises.

Advancing one place to third is JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (LSE:JGGI). It aims to outperform the MSCI All Country World index over the long term. It is “style neutral”, meaning it does not favour value or growth, for example. It holds 50 “best idea” stocks, and looks to trim its winners and recycle the money into underperformers it still has conviction in.

Video interview: JPMorgan Global Growth & Income
Why concentration risk is a problem for many investors

JPMorgan Global Growth & Income's performance has been impressive, up 48.4% over three years and 109.9% over five years. In comparison, the returns over those two periods for the global equity income sector are 27.8% and 46.3%.

Up one to fourth place is Alliance Witan (LSE:ALW). This trust also invests globally and adopts a style-neutral approach, but its structure is different since it has a multi-manager strategy, meaning the decision-making is outsourced to a selection of fund managers who pick their 20 best ideas. It has also performed well over three and five years, up 33.4% and 73.8%.

Falling three spots to fifth is City of London (LSE:CTY). Managed by Job Curtis since 1991, this trust is a favourite among income-seeking investors. Curtis adopts a conservative approach by focusing on companies with good cash generation. City has raised its dividend for 58 years in a row, making it one of 10 investment trusts with a track record of more than 50 years of income increases.

Up two places to sixth is F&C Investment Trust (LSE:FCIT). This is another global multi-manager approach that mainly uses in-house managers from fund firm Columbia Threadneedle and is overseen by Paul Niven, who decides on the asset allocation and gearing level.

F&C interview: value and growth winners we are backing
F&C interview: three UK shares that make our global portfolio

In seventh place is one of two new entries, JPMorgan American (LSE:JAM), which holds a mix of value and growth stocks.

According to Kepler Trust Intelligence, the analyst, “this strategy has a track record of negotiating different market conditions and we think investors should see it as a core exposure to the world’s largest stock market”. Five Magnificent Seven technology giants comprise its top five holdings: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

NextEnergy Solar Fund (LSE:NESF) fell to eighth place. In a recent video interview with interactive investor, Stephen Rosser, investment director, gave an overview of the specialist solar energy and energy storage fund, which has a high dividend yield of 12.2%.

3i Group (LSE:III) is in ninth place. It has been the standout performer in the private equity sector over one, three and five years, with its successful stake in Dutch discount retailer Action a key performance driver. However, it is trading on a huge premium of 65.6%. Over the long term, such large premiums tend not to be sustainable.

In 10th place is the other new entry, Polar Capital Technology (LSE:PCT). It returned to the top 10 having lost its place in the table in September.

Longstanding fund manager Ben Rogoff has been at the helm since 2006. The trust adopts a conservative approach to a high-growth sector by being “benchmark aware”, meaning that it tends not to stray too far from what its technology stocks’ benchmark looks like, and makes small overweight and underweight positions in an attempt to outperform it.

The trust says: “We look for technology companies playing on structural, secular trends and that offer genuine long-term growth potential. These technology companies will be the primary beneficiaries as the sector continues to capture an ever-higher proportion of global GDP, disrupt industries, and transform business models.”

Five Magnificent Seven stocks are in its top six holdings: Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple and Alphabet. The other stock in the top six is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM).

The two trusts that exited the top 10 were Supermarket Income REIT (LSE:SUPR) and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LSE:BRWM). Supermarket Income REIT entered the top 10 in September, while BlackRock World Mining has been in the top 10 since August and was the most-bought trust in September.

Top 10 most-popular investment trusts in November 2024

Ranking	Investment trust	Change from October	One-year return to 29 November 2024 (%)	Three-year return to 29 November 2024 (%)
1	Greencoat UK Wind	No change	-7.2	9.1
2	Scottish Mortgage	Up one	31.6	-36.7
3	JPMorgan Global Growth & Income	Up one	27.3	48.4
4	Alliance Witan	Up one	24.2	33.4
5	City of London	Down three	15.2	29.2
6	F&C Investment Trust	Up two	28.9	28.6
7	JPMorgan American	New entry	41.2	57.7
8	NextEnergy Solar Fund	Down two	-13.1	-12.2
9	3i Group	Up one	71.5	196.2
10	Polar Capital Technology	New entry	38.8	25.8

Source: FE Analytics. Performance data to 29 November 2024. Rankings are based on the number of “buys” during November 2024.

These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.

Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.

Get more news and expert articles direct to your inbox