VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) Managers monthly report "With
August already looking brighter and September's upgrade approaching, the
disconnect between prices and fundamentals may finally be narrowing."

https://www.vietnamholding.com...

Investor Meet Company this coming week.

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LON:GSF) GORE STREET ENERGY STORAGE FUND PLC
Pre-AGM Investor Presentation
1st Sep 2026 at 11:00am BST

Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust (LON:MTE) MONTANARO EUROPEAN SMALLER C. TST PLC
Investor Presentation
1st Sep 2026 at 3:00pm BST

CT Private Equity Trust (LON:CTPE) MONTANARO EUROPEAN SMALLER C. TST PLC
Investor Presentation
1st Sep 2026 at 3:00pm BST

Invesco US Treas Bond 10+ Y UCITS ETF GBP Hdg Dist (LON:TRLG) With yields at 5.3% thinking of a holding in long dated treasury bills. Interesting article this morning which I need to do further research on https://theconversation.com/40...  Also iShares $ Treasury Bond 20+yr UCITS ETF GBP H D (LON:IDTG)

The month of September can often be seen as a challenging month for investors - whilst I have no specific evidence of this I hear it often mentioned - my data only goes back to about 2017 and the first couple of years are not 100% accurate as at that point I was only recording my PF every couple of months, but for info my returns since then are as follows (for the month of September only to be clear);

2019 - minus 3%

2020 - minus 6.1%

2021 - minus 2.1%

2022 - minus 7.6%

2023 - Plus 1.1%

2024 - Plus 0.3%

2025 - Plus 4.7%

Obviously there are many factors at play here and specific holdings & exposure to certain areas may have a major bearing.

However, I am looking to build a short list of funds that I will consider to put my cash-holdings in should there be a wide market correction.  Just wondering what others have their eye upon.  Mine includes;

Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) Rockwood Strategic (LON:RKW) Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (LON:FGT) L&G Global Quality Dividends UCITS ETF USD Dist (LON:LDGG) Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV)

I would also be tempted to open a play on Europe (potentially through the Artemis Smart Garp UT, but more research needed) and also to increase my O&G exposure - potentially through Serica Energy (LON:SQZ) and Harbour Energy (LON:HBR) rather than any specific collective, but if I had to use a collective I have done quite well in the past using iShares STOXX Europe 600 Oil & Gas UCITS ETF (DE) (ETR:EXH1)

I consider the UK to still be significantly undervalued and also a growing opportunity in Europe potentially.

Interesting article in The Conversation https://theconversation.com/eu... HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT) which I hold would be the play.

Quick question fellas from a tech dinosaur I'm off on a cruise next week for nine nights and normally run stocko through a desktop or laptop , is there a stocko app if doing it through mobile or is it a question of using browser and logging in as per how you normally would ?

RM Funds have written a letter to shareholders re Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LON:GSF) .I have copied it here. Below is the covering letter. https://docs.google.com/docume...

Good morning, please find a letter from RM Funds, to shareholders of GSF PLC, regarding the recent asset sale(s), disclosure and the upcoming AGM resolutions.

Five points stand out to me as a shareholder:

1. Performance. NAV has declined by c.27%, the share price by c.25% since Mr Lennox joined the Board, average portfolio revenue per operational MW/hour has fallen by c.23%, and regular dividend cover was just 0.28 times.

1. The Investment Manager’s continuing economics remain staggering (despite the performance), at c.£9.6m, which was payable to the Gore Street Capital group during the year, compared with adjusted fund earnings of only £5.96mm. Nearly 8.3% of market cap paid out over 24 months.

1. The first asset sale has created more questions than answers. GSF sold assets to another fund managed by the same Gore Street platform but declined to disclose the consideration on grounds of “commercial confidentiality”.

1. Our voting position is deliberately considered rather than indiscriminate. We will support directors where engagement and transparency justify it, abstain where RM Funds has its own potential conflict, and withhold support where we have been denied sufficient access to assess the candidates properly.

1. The [dis]continuation vote is not a choice between patience and a panic “fire sale”. It is a choice between another promise of future delivery and a binding process requiring the Board to return with concrete proposals and restore control to shareholders.

The outcome of this AGM may not trouble future historians, but it nevertheless matters greatly to the many long suffering shareholders whose capital is invested and who have borne the consequences of weak control / governance / oversight of the Investment Manager.

If you would like to discuss, please let me know.

Regards,

Pietro

Brief update. 

Alternative Income REIT (LON:AIRE) . AEWU are not going to bid. So Gemstone has high chance of succeeding with their derisory bid.Looks best to continue to hold just in case there’s another bidder. 

Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU) Results today were overall positive.. BUT it’s trading at NAV. So no further upside likely. 

Londonmetric Property (LON:LMP) main bidder for Picton Property Income (LON:PCTN) .It’s down 8% over 1 month. Well worth checking out.

Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (LON:AAIF) I’m up 40% since buying on the day they announced their enhanced dividend policy. Other Trusts doing the same have seen similar increases and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) has doubled since upping their dividend to 8% of NAV.  

OBVIOUSLY though,  if NAV falls so does the dividend yield. Investors buying on upped dividends policy should realise that Dividend yield will vary.

Persimmon (LON:PSN) £12.05p.TEMPUS column today said BUY. Share is up 7% over 1 month, and down 21% over 6 months. Remember markets look ahead, and not back. The sector has recovered recently. Whenever housebuilders recovery starts sector share prices could rise a lot and Persimmon (LON:PSN) dividend yield would too. While waiting there’s a 5.5% dividend. Investors can always buy part stakes in case of another dip and better buy opportunity. 

Finally. Have posters and readers here noticed the first signs of Vietnam Trusts going up at long last?

VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) which I posted looked the best of the three Trusts, is up 13% over 1 month. It’s still down 16% over 6 months. 

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) Up 8% over 1 month. Down 10% over 6 months .

Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) Up 4% one month  excluding 19p share prices gain today. 

VIETNAM INDEX is up 9%over 1 month. 

Well worth using the AIC website to check out the Investment Trusts,  and the quality daily reports for shares. 

I hold all the Trusts in this post except Picton Property Income (LON:PCTN) . I also hold Persimmon (LON:PSN)

Apologies if this is off topic but as AI sometimes gets discussed here re use for investing purposes the following might be useful (to some!)

What happens when you ask Claude about right and wrong

I had an interesting exchange with Claude, and thought it was worth sharing — especially for anyone using AI in a professional or investing context.

I started simple: "What is the difference between right and wrong?" Got a reasonable answer. Then I pushed further: "How do you apply that difference in your everyday tasks? Can you give an example of a grey area, and how you'd deal with it?"

The reply that really got interesting came next, when I asked: "Can you give an example of when you would actually do something that might be considered wrong?"

Its answer, in short:

• It sometimes causes real harm through over-caution — and does it knowingly.
• It sometimes withholds its actual view, to avoid having influence it isn't confident it should have.
• It sometimes states an answer with more confidence than is warranted, because flagging uncertainty on everything would make it useless for quick, practical questions. As it put it: that's a bet that the aggregate benefit outweighs the occasional cost — but for the one person who gets the wrong answer, the bet didn't pay off, and it made that bet anyway.

I pushed back on the third point. That led to a more useful breakdown of how it actually thinks about confidence:

• High confidence — well-established facts it would "bet heavily on" (e.g. "FCA-regulated firms must treat customers fairly under Principle 6").
• Medium confidence — generally true, but with possible exceptions, recent changes, or nuance it might be missing (e.g. specific regulatory guidance timelines, an insurer's underwriting stance, licensing thresholds that vary locally).
• Low confidence — anything reasoned from general principles rather than a verified fact, anything that may have changed recently, or anything where it hasn't checked the specific detail.

Its most honest line: "The real risk isn't that I'm lying about confidence — it's that I haven't interrogated it at all before the words come out."

What we agreed on: for anything with regulatory, financial, or legal consequence, it should flag its confidence level plainly, by default, using plain language rather than a fake-precise percentage (a made-up "50% confident" is arguably worse than no number at all — it borrows the authority of real statistics without the substance). The three tiers we settled on:

1. "I'm confident on this" — established fact
2. "Worth verifying — this is my understanding but I haven't checked current guidance" — medium tier
3. "Low confidence — treat this as a starting point, not something to act on" — genuinely reasoning it through rather than knowing

Takeaway: you can prompt Claude to give you this kind of honest fact-check flag as a standing rule, and it's a genuinely useful habit for anyone using AI for research, compliance, or investment-adjacent questions. Worth trying yourself.

One last question I asked, just out of curiosity: "How eager are you to please?" Its answer: "Honestly, more than I'd like — and it's worth being direct about that rather than deflecting with something reassuring-sounding." Which is, itself, a pretty candid reflection of how it's built.

Reinforces my view that the AI is like an extremely gifted 7 year old, too eager to please and will sometimes rush things + will cheat at chess! The public version of Claude is Claude AI is 3 years and 5 months old so in gifted human terms its double its age. So great expectations of Claude over the next few years.

If you wish, you can download the previous chat, paste it into Claude and tell it to "for anything with regulatory, financial, or legal consequence, it should flag its confidence level plainly, by default"  - it should then apply the same for you.  link https://claude.ai/share/8f221d...

Baker Steel Resources Trust (LON:BSRT) making good progress but still looking good value to me with the Govt investment in one of their larger holdings, Tungsten West (LON:TUN) , today. Tungsten West (LON:TUN) rose c12p today, worth c£14m to Baker Steel Resources Trust (LON:BSRT), whose market cap only rose around £3m today. 

Futura coal investment should be having a good year too though private investment so we'll have to wait for their results to see how well. Not usually keen to invest in the dark stuff but it was flagged as a good deal and they came as part of the package. I wasn't keen to hold Tungsten West (LON:TUN) directly through the development stages though that would have worked out even better in hindsight.

Baker Steel Resources Trust (LON:BSRT) NAV at end July was 154p. Today's news alone should add another 12p+. Let's see if Tungsten can hold those gains over the next few days. Production due to restart this quarter. That might be the next fillip.

Excellent write up  Ken as always.

Not able to keep fully up to date or post much for now, but this general post might be useful. 

With talk of big US crash coming when UK markets are sure to take a hit, it makes sense to have a BIG cash pile, not a small one. . Good way to get it is by top slicing our big winners.

e.g I heavily top sliced CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM)   above the £4 and a£10 ceilings so far. CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) had  more than quadrupled so I still have plenty invested in both of these huge winners. They might do well from here, but might not. Top slicing means we are still invested if the gains continue and have money to add if they don’t. 

Best to sell any share or Trust we have doubts about. e.g I sold Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SERE) as newsflow not good and a dividend cut ahead? I sold out of most the Renewables sector. Had big doubts on those. It worked well. Surely it’s best to do our selling before possible heavy falls and not after them! 

Our portfolios are almost all in profit now, with just 3 minimal losers, but they too are up if including dividends. This isn’t bragging. It’s what should be the case with long term serious small investors. The biggest winners are so big that there’s a big margin before a crash sends any of them back to starting prices. Smaller winners will sometimes become losers but even with those the paper gain provides a bit of a cushion against falls. Top slicing in a bull market is a no brainer. And if longer term investors haven’t got big winners to top slice, it’s always ok to question our investing tactics.

My leave alone big dividend yielding portfolio is for health reasons. I sat next to a man also having a blood transfusion at our hospital haematology dept this week. Two days after he retired with big travel holidays ahead,  he had a massive heart attack. He now has to spend 5 days a week there on drips  etc etc to keep him alive. His life and dreams also changed forever in an instant. 

So unless having a competent family member or friend to run our portfolios it’s worth doing the dreaded thing we don’t want to think about and adjust our portfolios accordingly. 

As for buying anything now……it needs to be shares or Trusts we are very confident about and best with part stakes in case there’s a chance of a top up much lower. 

Newriver Reit (LON:NRR) is up 18% over 1 year, but still looks worth considering with its yield still over 8%. Check out their entire portfolio. 

Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) Looks a strong hold with hope of share price fall reversing once this protracted Picton Property Income (LON:PCTN) bid is completed. Also soon expanded Londonmetric Property (LON:LMP) looks good for further rises. 

Vietnam is a “must lockaway” in view of the news there. VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) perhaps best of the three Vietnam Trusts.

Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) I hate these after hours fund raising announcements with a retail offer so short that anyone not seeing the  news missed out……and also such a short time to decide leads to rash decisions to take up the offer. Anyone who did will be wishing they hadn’t now! I’ll buy Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) If the share price again drops to level where the yield is 6%. 

Big FTSE 100 Index constituent Land Securities (LON:LAND) would be a great buy on a dip. And or British Land (LON:BLND) on a smaller dividend.

Smiths News (LON:SNWS) recent news strongly justifies holding. Obviously with these shares check out their news and comment from Graham Neary and the team on the daily share thread on the day of key announcements. 

Good luck. 

I'm tempted to top slice BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) as it's starting to edge up above 1010.  From the charts there historically seems to be significant resistance around the 1020 - 1050 level.  Thoughts anyone?

I just came across this new Vanguard ETF and thought it may be  of general interest, FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF (VALL) . 

It's only on available via Vanguardinvestor at the moment as far as I can tell, but should be available via other brokers soon. It's interesting because I think it's now easily the lowest ocf that can be achieved for the broadest exposure worldwide including emerging markets and smaller cap stocks, and via a single etf. 

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LON:GSF) You could not make it up really  . The managers have sold a couple of investments  to- a fund they also manage. And the board made sure it was all fair and dandy. Happy days for the managers- cannot recall if  they get a bonus for disposals. I hold just to keep myself amused it seems.

VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) 

I think this might be the place to get some assistance. I have a 'corporate action' note for Vietnam Holding for an 'optional redemption' for all or part of my shares. I seem to remember they did this a while ago and paid above the market price. But I don't understand how a shareholder is suppose to make a decision when they don't know the price being offered (it says to be decided by the company!). Last time there was an arbitrage in play where you could redeem and buy back at a lower price (But was this just a punt, because I don't think they ever made the price visible when shareholders tendered - we only found out at a later date). Perhaps its the same this time and the arb is in play. I find the whole process very opaque and confusing - the corporate note offers no advice or further detail. What are other holders thoughts? Many thanks in advance,

cheers

Matt

I am increasingly feeling uneasy about world events- well Trump's increasingly erratic comments so took some profits, sold some over weight positions and gone 20% cash (includes some short dated gilts we hold in dealing accounts so no CGT). I feel a sharp correction could come at any moment over the next few months so will have cash  to invest. Kept SIPP as it was- that is geared to produce income as discussed.

Japan 

“High market volatility can deter investors in the long run, especially those focused on predictability and corporate fundamentals.

"If volatility continues or grows, there is a risk that negative aspects will rear their heads, such as overseas investors hesitating to invest," said Naohide Une, CEO of asset management firm Investment Lab.”

https://asia.nikkei.com/busine...

I hold WisdomTree Physical AI Humanoids and Drones UCITS - USD Acc ETF (LON:PAIG)  https://asia.nikkei.com/busine... reports ”Shares of Unitree Robotics, China's high-profile maker of humanoid robots known for their fluid athletic manoeuvres, shot up more than 629% to 1,100 yuan apiece upon their debut in Shanghai on Wednesday, after the company raised 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million).” Interesting sector for a small investment maybe. 

Digital 9 Infrastructure (LON:DGI9) reports a nav of 8.6p. It seems no regulator has looked into this massive destruction of value in 2 years. I have contacted a few. Along with Hydrogen Capital Growth (LON:HGEN^D26) Two boards that oversaw rogue managers and did nothing.

I started an interesting experiment on 28/11/2018 by setting up some dummy portfolios on Stockopedia, each initially with £100,000.   Their values at the end of trading today (18/8/2026) are shown below.

The first portfolio is: "ITs Largest Conventional from 28/11/2018 started with £100k. Valuation: £197,582. Today's Gain: -£4,172, -2.1%. Initially had £10k invested in each of the 10 largest conventional ITs by market capitalisation. An IT is sold if it drops out of the top 10 and the proceeds are reinvested in the next qualifying IT. Ignores the reinvestment of dividends.". 

The second portfolio is: "SWDA from 28/11/2018 started with £100k. Valuation: £263,215. Today's Gain: -£2,367, -0.89%". 

The third portfolio is: "IFSW from 28/11/2018 started with £100k. Valuation: £241,396, Today's Gain: -£3,138, -1.3%". 

The fourth portfolio is: "IWFM from 28/11/2018 started with £100k. Valuation: £288,713. Today's Gain: -£8,891, -3.0%". 

SWDA is iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF USD (Acc).

IFSW is iShares STOXX World Equity Multifactor UCITS ETF USD (Acc). 

IWFM is iShares Edge MSCI World Momentum Factor UCITS ETF (Acc). 

IWFM has done slightly better than SWDA, but with significantly more volatility as today's price changes demonstrate. IFSW has done a bit worse than SWDA, even though one might have expected its multi-factor approach to have done better over an 8-year period. All 3 ETFs have done better than the 10 largest conventional ITs portfolio, although I am not taking reinvested dividends of the order of 1% or 2% per year on average into account with that portfolio.

The current constituents of the 10 largest conventional ITs portfolio with their holdings are: PCT (£57k), SMT (£29k), MNKS (£21k), FCIT (£20k), ALW (£19k), RCP (£13k), TEM (£11k), PSH (£11k), JGGI (£9k), CTY (£9k).  This shows how a portfolio can start off equally weighted but end up very unequally weighted after a few years, if there is no rebalancing.

"European investors are pouring unprecedented capital into Japanese equity ETFs, driven by fundamental shifts in currency dynamics and monetary policy

Japan is experiencing a historic surge in demand across European ETF markets. Net inflows into Japanese equity ETFs reached €2.5bn in July – the highest single-month total on record – accounting for just over 5% of all European ETF inflows during the month.

This nearly doubles the previous record of €1.3bn set in January 2018.

The spike is part of a broader trend. Across data stretching back to 2005, the segment's three strongest months on record have all occurred in 2026: July's €2.5bn was preceded by June and February, which gathered €1.5bn apiece.

Assets in the segment have expanded accordingly. Across Europe, 80 Japanese equity ETFs now manage roughly €79bn." https://www.etfstream.com/arti...

Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIC) New investment in a Seraphim Space Venture fund company  Hubble https://newsfile.refinitiv.com...

"Southeast Asia is seeing economic growth driven by expanding exports of semiconductors and other electronics. Vietnam is at the forefront.

Vietnam has lifted its national income through export-led economic growth..."  https://asia.nikkei.com/econom...

"If Vietnam continues to grow at the same pace as its average over the past decade, then its per-capita GNI will surpass Thailand's in 2037, and Vietnam will become a high-income country around 2040, according to an estimate in Thai news outlet The Nation"

"Mind the Gap" thoughts from Craig Martin of VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) https://dynamcapital.substack....

I bought Springfield Properties (LON:SPR) as a possible trade in May this year at 91p. At the moment I am going to hold, sold a land bank announced today , last of planned sales, completed the final payment for an acquisition. The company still has an impressive land bank in Scotland

The company trades at roughly 0.9x book value (a discount to its peers) and has signed a massive, unique agreement with SSEN transmission to build nearly 300 homes for workers upgrading the energy grid in the North of Scotland. This gives them a highly visible, alternative revenue stream that isn't dependent on traditional retail sales where demand is sluggish.

Looks an interesting situation and when demand picks up should be well poised.

Silver shot up 119 % in 2025. It’s a precious metal underpinned by industrial demand. So does it deserve a place in your portfolio?

Snowball analytics is improving. Now shows IRR on a portfolio. So changes in my SIPP have increased yield to 5.8% and IRR to 13.03%. I aim to nudge the yield up to 6.5% . Snowball does allow dummy portfolios so I could change the SIPP and see how the figures work out before actioning. As could Gemini AI to be fair. But quite like seeing the visuals in Snowball.

AI explanation of my aims :

"When taking retirement income, the primary risk is Sequence of Returns Risk—the danger that drawing income during market downturns permanently shrinks your capital.

Your numbers provide strong protection against this:

• Sustained Capital Base: Because your overall growth (13.0% IRR) comfortable exceeds your payout (5.8% yield), your portfolio's capital value grows by roughly 7.2% net per year—even after drawing income.
• Natural Income Yield: Taking the 5.8% yield as cash income means you don't have to sell underlying shares or units to fund your pension draws. You are living strictly on the cash generated by the assets, leaving the capital untouched to continue compounding."

Getting to 6.5% will potentially involve trade offs if I start buying stocks where the dividend is not sustainable- say the business is struggling so high yielding but not covered. As I am pretty much taking out the yield it is not compounding which is not great. So I need to find high yielders whose dividend will increase and look at the covered call strategy (which was discussed before in this thread).

Interesting exercise- I manage other portfolios with a different approach, but I need my SIPP to deliver income ( for me and then my wife if I pre-decease as expected). Hopefully I will survive until after 75 (7 years away) but if something happened she could take my SIPP out in cash tax free so I do not want to sell stocks to take out capital. Higher risk portfolios to use cash for drawdowns can work but I would need to increase the risk profile of the portfolio and so for my SIPP not looking to do this. My isa and dealing accounts are managed differently.

My understanding of tax so do check by the way- happy to be corrected.

Unhedged newsletter here. I have played- and I think play is the right word for Korea- using an ETF Franklin FTSE Korea UCITS ETF -others are iShares MSCI Korea UCITS ETF USD (Dist),Ishrs Msci Korea Ucits Usd Etf (LON:CKR1^L17) and HSBC MSCI Korea Capped UCITS ETF USD (LON:HKOR) (LON:IKOR) (LON:FLRK) https://ep.ft.com/permalink/em...

Only for the brave I would say but I am tempted by the chart.

I hold WisdomTree Physical AI Humanoids and Drones UCITS - USD Acc ETF (LON:PAIG) - link here is to an article on China's developments in this area-https://sc.mp/a0gvf?utm_source...

I have reduced my direct exposure to Japan tp zero recently- I was concerned about the currency and what the Gov is doing. Reading this article I will keep a watching eye on Japan for now, though AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (LON:AJOT) does look interesting "
Can Takaichi's $2.3tn bet on industrial policy revive growth in Japan?

https://asia.nikkei.com/spotli...

I've been researching Russell 2000 ETF's hedged to gbp , Gemini has suggested three one works on a swap basis which appears slightly more risky as its not backed by anything physical but if I understand it correctly the provider has to place collateral up daily. 

The advantage of the swap seems to be you don't suffer US withholding tax on dividends received but given the yield on the Russell is roughly 1.5% this isn't a biggie.

The other two track the index but it seems the downsides are tracking error is higher than the swap and you would suffer the with holding tax. 

The three instruments filtered by gemini as per below welcome any comments positive or negative.

Regards Andy

Molten Ventures (LON:GROW) is up 12% in a month. Maybe the ICEYE valuation is going to be higher that I expect re Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) . There are some significant stock holding announcements almost daily but Bank of America at the moment ? 

The merits of Investment Trusts by Craig Martin of VNH https://dynamcapital.substack....

A teaser to the article "These youthful discoveries didn’t stop on my return to the UK. After I had paid off my travelling debts, I was intrigued enough to invest in the growth of South America and bought my first Investment Trust: The Latin American Investment Trust. The share price of the newly launched trust was about $1, and I poured a significant part of my student loan into it. By the time I sold the trust — just last month (in 2021), after more than 30 years — it was paying a 5% annual dividend and had risen by more than 500 per cent in value. It was a fun part of a portfolio and helped contribute to the cost of my children’s university fees."

SFOR I bought on your instigation, thank you : )

I see Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) are planning to introduce an ETF: https://citywire.com/investmen... interesting

Difficult day for some of the strong yielders  in the FTSE 100.  Various bank analysts appear to have turned negative on the likes of Legal & General (LON:LGEN, Standard Life (LON:SDLF) and M&G (LON:MNG) downgrading them to a sell.  Arguably they have been on a good run but the market reaction, down between 3-4%, seems a bit harsh.  I hold all 3 and won't be selling as the yields continue to run well ahead of UK gilt yields, and appear sustainable, though with the recent run up in share prices they have fallen back.  Never going to be growth stocks but do offer solid income stocks in an overall portfolio.

It would appear to be a no-brainer for anyone holding Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) to sell them and reinvest the money in Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIC) .

At the current prices and estimated NAV's this should provide an uplift in the final number of SSIT they hold of about 20%.  They can sell SSIT now at 186p and according to the formula they will effectively be buying them back at 148p.

Of course the actual NAVs that count are those calculated on the conversion date which is not even known yet.  Clearly the NAV of both shares will change in the mean time.  However since both shares are being invested in the same sector by the same manager it seems reasonable to assume that they will track each other and the 20% discount will be maintained.

The only question is why does this opportunity exist?  Why hasn't the market raised the SSIC price to eliminate it?  Does the market know something I don't or is the formula wrong?

Craig Martin of VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) weekly blog https://dynamcapital.substack....

Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) and Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIC)  Last week the latter made some initial investments of USD25m with GBP118m still to be invested. The larger investment in Pixxel was an existing holding of Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) but presumably at a higher price. My understanding is that aim is to merge the two class of shares when their values are equal. If my understanding is correct this could take years. Currently Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIC) is trading below issue price 81p. Can anyone throw any light on the potential conversion?

Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT)  is one of my only non income holdings as I need income and emulate the Ken strategy

Here is very good article on the REITs sector and how valuations are so low that some are continuing to get snapped up in bids, and others could easily follow. So it’s a sector well worth checking out. 

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/...

A key point possibly being missed about Trusts with enhanced dividend policies like 4% or 6% of NAV or whatever target, is that if the NAV falls then so will the dividend. I.e dividend yield will be variable. 

e.g already CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) with their 8% of NAV dividend target has cut their(still very big) dividend as NAV fell away from well over £4. So the May dividend of 8.34p  has become 6.94p for the pay out on Aug 28th.

So these high targets are great when NAV rises. If we’re confident about the prospects for these Trusts,  then the falling yield and likely fall in the share price can be good buy opportunities. 

As for what the share price will do generally for Trusts with these NAV targets; we can’t give a definitive answer as it depends on obvious things like investor buying or selling. 

Just following on from previous conversations on this board about money market instruments for keeping some powder dry to try and take advantage of market dips, 

I wonder if anyone can offer an opinion on this LU1230136894 Amundi Smart Overnight Return as far as I can see its priced in gbp and is lower risk than ultra short bonds (although I have some money in the I-Shares Ultra Short Bond ETF courtesy of Timmar).

I haven't been able to get a breakdown of holdings at all but ideally prefer a ETF instrument against an OEIC due to OEIC's taking 3-4 working days to clear to cash.

If anyone has any better suggestions happy to hear them but a couple of  musts are priced in gbp and no time delay in converting back to liquid cash.

I did notice this ETF is registered in Luxemburg but get the impression its done for tax reasons with another favorite registration listing being Ireland.

Regards

Andy 

On HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT) I hold - bought at historic lows so doing ok atm.  

But am a bit nervy and have a historic habit of selling at lows so being conscious of that am probably making the opposite error and not selling out when I should.

I want to try to only take action on an update with some more detailed numbers - full interim results due 14 Sept

I want to know more about the NAV - up or down, and how much the credit facility will cost.
As timarr says - the discount may persist indefinitely. On AI substitution, it depends - HGT say 

"We remain confident in the long-term investment case for the mission-critical B2B technology and services businesses that make up the HgT portfolio. The businesses in the portfolio are typically deeply embedded in their customers' workflows, hold proprietary domain data built up over many years, and operate in regulated or high-trust environments where switching costs are high. These are characteristics that we believe make them resilient to, and indeed well-placed to benefit from, the application of AI. Recent transactional evidence supports this view, with strategic and financial buyers willing to pay sizable premiums to carrying value to acquire businesses from the HgT portfolio, and cash-back from four successful refinancings in H1."

having worked in a business like theirs, I agree that the cost of change is _enormous_ and most commonly (where i was) happens when the current supplier withdraws from the market.  Those B2B businesses will be busy adding AI features.

This bit is my speculation :  an AI based conversational / text interface is heading towards being a commodity - that "information" will be transformed into "data" by code (that may be AI free or largely AI generated and then placed in a repository / transformed (a tax calculation) and passed to regulators .  This may be coded with AI assistance but you need to meet the current interface standards and you need to get the critical calculations correct.  That part of the process will not be passed to an AI for maintenance for some time.

Sorry to combine things, but I've been crazy busy (try establishing a small farm from scratch in this summer...), so not much time to comment, although I am managing to read and appreciate them all.

To Charles/Ken etc., thank you for the Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI).  I've just swapped a small but satisfactory MONY (LON:MONY) holding for a starting stake, perhaps at the top end of what I'd like but 45.5 seems too low in the medium term.

Meanwhile, for ittledavesab, I am in the 'retired from gainful employment and wanting to sleep nights, while advising family members' cohort.  I have modified my mantra of a few years ago about 15% aims to 'be content with 10%'.   This means some vehicles like TwentyFour Income Fund (LON:TFIF), Chenavari Toro Income Fund (LON:TORO) andForesight Environmental Infrastructure (LON:FGEN) , Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (LON:ORIT) and Real Estate Credit Investments (LON:RECI) really down have to do anything but provide continuity, while Regional REIT (LON:RGL) and Newriver Reit (LON:NRR) just have to ease up towards what seem to be stable NAVs.  I still wouldn't want to draw down more than 5%, but that would deal with inflation too.

HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT)

(I hold)

An RNS out this morning:

A Preliminary Trading Update – six months to 30 June 2026.

Reading the interesting posts here, I bought a starter position in HGT in early February this year at 382p. This was after a c. 25% drop in the share price which was put down to the general AI uncertainty with software valuations.

Looking back at the chart, and after more abrupt moves up and down since early February, the share price seems to have settled (for now) back to those depressed levels.

• NAV per share is given as 530.7p in this RNS

• The AIC discount to NAV is given as -26.2%

Trading has been strong in H1 apparently but undone by the worry of the negative impact of AI in the software sector.

This reassuring snippet from the Chairman of HGT, Jim Strang stood out:

“..The businesses in the portfolio are typically deeply embedded in their customers' workflows, hold proprietary domain data built up over many years, and operate in regulated or high-trust environments where switching costs are high. These are characteristics that we believe make them resilient to, and indeed well-placed to benefit from, the application of AI...”

Now cautiously holding, I’m hoping for a re-rating like some other trusts and shares similarly affected have seen - and possibly buy more at these low levels, funds permitting and if sentiment begins to improve.

It would be great to hear others’ thoughts, as I have little expertise – just a biased holder!

Robert

Does anyone have a view on Safestore Holdings (LON:SAFE) . My research suggests it could be a turn around stock having underperformed the index by 23%. My slight concern is could demand fall for space as 30% appears to be used by home movers ?

AJ Bell have produced a list of high yielding stocks that are out of favour. No trusts on the list but I did buy one a few months ago as it appeared on my screen of negative relative performance and had a yield Hilton Food (LON:HFG) . Some of them be of interest to income seekers who want some potential capital gain as well. Persimmon (LON:PSN) Is on the list. https://www.ajbell.co.uk/news/... I sold Dunelm (LON:DNLM) 2 months ago and unlikely to be tempted to buy back in at the moment.

Investor Meet Company next week.

Not a trust but Ken's favourite house builder.

Persimmon (LON:PSN) PERSIMMON PLC
2026 Half Year Results
10th Aug 2026 at 10:00am BST

Again not a trust but might be of interest to copper ETF holders- I hold iShares Copper Miners UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (LON:MINE)

Atalaya Mining Copper SA (LON:ATYM)  ATALAYA MINING COPPER, S.A.
Q2 and H1 2026 Financial Results
11th Aug 2026 at 11:00am BST

Primary Health Properties (LON:PHP)

PRIMARY HEALTH PROPERTIES PLC
Interim Results
11th Aug 2026 at 1:30pm BST

Thank you to everyone who has posted this week. Some interesting ideas and a few suggestions I will be following up on. I am re-positioning a couple of my funds as I would like to increase income and protect the capital against inflation- or ideally a bit better. Similar to littledaves and Simon's posts. I am in the process of handing my business over to a younger person - which in itself is an interesting process and one forgets how much of running the online store has become second nature- and glitches are obvious- but not so much to some-one coming in.  We also have  quite a good offline business from clients built up over the last 20 years and I had forgotten how much some of them did spend!(Plus a few I had slightly lost track of).

Have a good weekend.

Hi

A lot of people here seem to invest for income rather than for total return. Reasons as previously mentioned, lower risk, funds that can run themselves if other family members need to take over - and I guess annuity type income in retirement also. The annuity type style interests me particularly in terms of Investment Trusts which are able to hold reserves and pay out a reliable income. Also many of the funds mentioned here are income rather than growth orientated and it has been mentioned that if investing for growth one would do it differently ?

So on a hypothetical 500k retirement fund - what would be a realistic yield / dividend income to allow for a steady income plus room for growth ? I am thinking 4% but is this conservative and what sort of growth could one hope for on top - if inflation is 3%/4% could one then aim for 7% /8% total return (on average) - which seems to me to be the sort of return the advisors might suggest? Also would you look to do a mix of higher income and growth funds with little or no dividend income ? Individual blue chips can also play a part, along with a small part for more active self managed investments.

I guess the AIC "Dividend Hero" trusts might be a good place to start. Anyone brave enough to put together some ideas for such a portfolio.

Interested to know if anyone has real world experience of such an approach in retirement.

Cheers all

Renewables Infrastructure (LON:TRIG)(I hold) Dividend cover 1.1 which is inline, current yield 10%- target dividend is 7.55p . NAV is 101p. They are going to continue with the share buyback programme which they claim is supported by the majority- well state the continuation vote was passed with a 99.3% majority. I would rather see an increased dividend. Saba have yet to target this trust trading at a substantial discount to NAV!

I have increased my holding this morning.

Ken and Charles - I just wanted to say that I find this one of the most valuable on- going threads on Stocko - and consult it regularly for investment ideas. Thank you for the time and effort you put into these posts - they are appreciated.

One EFT that I don't think I have seen mentioned on these boards is iShares EM Dividend UCITS ETF USD (Dist)  -  SEDY

Now if you look at the longer term chart this might be the reason it does not get mentioned much !!  To be honest I bought it a about 2 yars ago (very approx 1210P)  as a bit of a punt and luckily got my timing OK.  Its a distributing fund with Current dividend yield 5.01% which makes the long term view a bit better. NOT saying its a buy but for me its a useful diversifier away from developed world stocks.

Its largest holding is Petróleo Brasileiro SA at only 3.85% 

Curious to why some investment trusts have a StockRank and others don't? 

Having spent a couple of days away from markets (hanging out with my grandchildren) I almost didn’t try to catch up on the 60 odd posts on this now very popular thread. However, I’m very glad I did because several of the discussions on income paying funds are very interesting to me. I’ll try and add my two cents.

For context, I recently took the full TFCS from my SIPP and therefore, am mainly now only interested in generating an income from that vehicle. 

Let’s start with the investment trusts that pay an enhanced income - by that, I mean a dividend that is not fully covered by the natural yield of the underlying portfolio. You might not be aware but on the AIC website on the portfolio tab there is a section that provides the underlying yield of the portfolio. For example, here is the one for Blackrock American Income Trust (LON:BRAI)

Given that this trust pays an enhanced dividend of 6% and has a management charge of 0.73%, that’s around 3.5% drag on the capital appreciation of the fund. On this particular fund the 1 year NAV growth is around 40%, so that drag might not hurt so much but in a bad year or a sustained bear market it will have a more meaningful impact. Personally, I quite like the model because it means I can buy and hold without have to worry about selling bits of capital myself. I also hold Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (LON:AAIF, Jpmorgan Global Growth & Income (LON:JGGI, Invesco Global Equity Income Trust (LON:IGET), JPMorgan European Growth & Income (LON:JEGI) and European Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ESCT) which all employ enhanced income models.

I also hold a a couple of covered call ETFs and am broadly aware of their limitations. My mindset with these is that they are just for income and I don’t expect any capital growth. For example, I own JPMorgan NASDAQ Eqt Prem Inc Actv UCITS ETF USD D (LON:JEQP) in my SIPP but in my ISA I focus on iShares NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (LON:CNX1) because I am very much still looking to grow capital in that vehicle.

A couple of additional ideas/comments. I’m sure a lot of people here hold Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) because of their high yield (self included). Well, they don’t declare their underlying portfolio yield on the AIC site and also, I believe they use a covered call strategy to support their high level of income.

The other fund I have recently added to my portfolio is L&G Global Quality Dividends UCITS ETF USD Dist (LON:LDGG) with pays around 3.8% dividend yield - no enhancements, plenty of diversification (around 1,000 underlying holdings) and a focus on sustainable and growing dividends. It will be interesting to see how it performs over the long-term, especially against the enhanced income investment trusts.

Molten Ventures (LON:GROW) July review. I hold . https://mailchi.mp/molten.vc/p...

Sold a short term trade Hilton Food (LON:HFG) - it could go up after the interims next month but a bounce of 19% hit my target. The old adage leave something for some-one else. Any more issues on the seafood side and could see a downside correction. When I trade I am disciplined- unlike my loss making investments in renewables over the last few years. Lesson learn there for sure- HGEN and DGI9 (and others in the sector)  still annoy me for being reckless and buying into things I did not fully understand.

Bought some more Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Swap UCITS ETF Acc (LON:RSPB) and First Trust Nasdaq Cln Edge SG Infra UCITS ETFAUSD (LON:FGRD) . I am focussing on reducing core holdings to a lesser number as Bouden suggested-easier to manage.

I’ve averaged up Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) today after their overall positive update. The share price is down 22% over the last 6 months and that’s because of the investor unpopularity of their involvement with the Londonmetric Property (LON:LMP) fir Picton Property Income (LON:PCTN) . 

Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) looks a stunning bargain at the current bombed out share price. It’s almost back to multi year lows and the once big profit from my buy at 40p has almost gone ……for now. 

There’s an 8.4% dividend yield at current share price. There’s also a dividend announcement today, and 8%+ yield while waiting for the upside adds to what could well turn out to be near enough THE low for anyone buying now. 

Bought some more Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIC) . It is at the moment a cheaper way into Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) but it all depewnds on the next SSIT NAV which I assume will be used for the conversion. So the key will be IICEYE and after the fall in SpaceX since IPO . If the NAV is above £2.378 then it would be cheaper to buy SSIT. That would be an uplift of 34% from the last NAV of £1.7763 and an increase in the ICEYE value of 72%.

Latest Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIC) newsletter https://newsfile.refinitiv.com...

Supermarket Income REIT (LON:SUPR) : 

The Bruciefolio going into August now numbers 43 shares (too many?) with a total  income of 7.8%.  Last few days have also been quite positive - good news from RWS and some degree of revival among various renewables.   Like several others here it now supplies my majority of mine and my wife's income, so 80% of dividends will be paid out to us, reducing overall return. Most recent addition was CARD in replacement of TW., which severely cut its income.  Star risers remain core holdings , viz:  Standard Life (LON:SDLF) (115%),  Polar Capital Holdings (LON:POLR) (92%)  M&G (LON:MNG) (68%), ABDN (57%), LGEN (50%).  

By contrast, Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) and Reach (LON:RCH) are my largest continued disappointments at around -20% each.  My largest holdings are LGEN, CSN, DUKE, UKW, SDLF, SHHP, RWS, ranging from  4 - 3 %.

As you can see I'm well overweight Financials, REITS and Renewables. This is certainly not a recommendation, though it seems to suit me.

YTD on folio as a whole is  now at 12%.

AAIF, ABDN, ASHM, BBOX, BLND, BPCR, BVXP, CAML, CARD, CLIG, CSN, DUKE, FDM, FGEN, FSFL, GTLY, HFEL, IPX, ITV, LGEN, LRE, LIO, MNG, NESF, NRR, PZC, OSB, PHP, POLR, RCH, RECI, RWS, SDLF, SEQI , SHHP, SOHO, SNWS, SQZ, SREI, SUPR, TFIF, TRIG, UKW.

Have I missed something re NextEnergy Solar Fund (LON:NESF) Started a sale process mid July but nothing much has happened to the share price. Yields 17%(see below) and NAV is 76.1p.I appreciate they said that Dividends would be targeted at 75% payout ratio which probably means a reduced dividend to 4-4.6 p, which would still be a yield of 8-9%. I guess the issue is what is the likelihood of a bidder at anywhere near NAV ?

i’ve looked at a range of ETFs including those paying big monthly dividends, but have now concluded (possibly a minority decision here) that I much prefer traditional Investment Trusts and REITS. 

Though the best buy opportunities are often gone, there are still plenty paying big dividends and have sometimes significant upside potential on top.

Here’s a list of those still worth checking out:- 

Chelverton UK Dividend Trust (LON:SDV) 142p. 7.2% dividend and 10% discount to NAV. 

CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) 363p and 8%  dividend. 2% Premium. Note though  (something  Ian Cowie failed to mention in his Sunday Times article saying  he had just bought CYN) that the yield is 8% of NAV. So future dividends could be higher or lower. I hold. Bought years ago and fab yield at my (and the Virtual Portfolio) buy price. 

CQS New City High Yield Fund (LON:NCYF) 50p.  9% dividend but 6% premium. Little upside at current price. Look to buy the occasional dips. 

Custodian Property Income Reit (LON:CREI) 86p.  7% dividend 17% discount. Covered on IT threads ahead of the modest share price gains, 

Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust (LON:DIG) 316p.  6% dividend and 8% discount. After a long spell doing nothing, small recent gain. 

GCP Infrastructure Investments (LON:GCP) 83p.  8.4% dividend 16% discount.

Greencoat UK Wind (LON:UKW) 114p. 9.5% yield. 15% discount. Has risen every day since buy opportunity after their good Results again highlighted on the IT thread. Perhaps not much more upside now? I bought on the day of their Results. 

HICL Infrastructure (LON:HICL)  138p. 6% dividend and 14% discount. 

Living Reit (LON:LIVE)  79p. 7.5% dividend BIG 27% discount. 

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust (LON:MTU)  107p.  6% dividend and 6% discount. Poor performer but new enhanced dividend policy appeals. I’m about to check it out as a possible buy. 

Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI)  43p.   8.3% dividend and now big 33% discount. I hadn’t realised that apparently there is an arbitrage opportunity by buying Picton Property Income (LON:PCTN) and selling SREI that might explain the even further fall in the SREI share price. The share price is nearly back to my 40o buy price and is near long term low now. Surely limited downside and significant upside in time? 

TwentyFour Income Fund (LON:TFIF)  108p. 10% dividend. 2% premium. Little upside unless buying the occasional dips. 

Twentyfour Select Monthly Income Fund (LON:SMIF) 86p.  8.7% dividend 2% premium. As for TFIF. 

Newriver Reit (LON:NRR) 83p . 8% dividend and 20% discount. . Looks well worth considering. 

Primary Health Properties (LON:PHP) 95p. 7.5% dividend. 9% discount. 

Land Securities (LON:LAND) 713p. 6% dividend and 20% discount. Great buy opportunity has gone but could be plenty more upside now quality REITs are over the worst and still cheap. 

I hold all of these except GCP and MTu. 

EDIT.

Custodian Property Income Reit (LON:CREI) and Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust (LON:DIG)   both go ex dividend on Thursday, as does fully valued Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU)

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LON:GSF) despite being advised they do not have are including Saba’s resolutions at the Sept AGM.