Investment Trust , REIT and ETF's- Thoughts (January 2026)
Investment Trust , REIT and ETF's- Thoughts (January 2026)
Links to older monthly thoughts.
December 25 November 2025 October 25 September 2025 August 25 July 25 June 25 May 25 April 2025 March 25 February 25 January 25
December 24.November October September August July June May April March February
For more information on Investment trusts visit:
Association of Investment Companies.
https://www.theaic.co.uk/
Free to sign up. On the site you can create portfolios, screen and compare Investment Trusts by Geographic region, Sector , Yield and more. A few Trusts who are not AIC members have limited data.
Jonathan Davies's website https://money-makers.co/.
You can also sign up(Paid membership) for insights on Investment Trusts from him and others. Weekly email and podcast .
Citywire do a daily Investment trust email. Free, does have sponsored content but keeps you up to-date with Investment Trust news.
https://citywire.com/investment-trust-insider
Trustnet have an Investment trust section. https://www.trustnet.com/
Kepler Trust intelligence produce reports for Investment trusts
Edison cover Investment Companies and do a monthly Investment trust round up. You can sign up for free.
https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/.
You can sign up for newsletters/fact sheets from most of the Investment Trusts on their websites.
For ETF's I use https://www.justetf.com/uk/. You can screen buy region, sector and see performance comparisons.
November 2025 Investment Trust monthly performance.
Top 10 (Equity only)
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) +55.4%
Schiehallion Fund (LON:MNTN) +24.2%
Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) +12.6%
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LON:SMT) +11.4%
RTW Biotech Opportunities (LON:RTW) +8.8%
Onward Opportunities (LON:ONWD) +8.4%
Chelverton UK Dividend Trust (LON:SDV) +7.9%
Shires Income (LON:SHRS) +7.7%
Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) +7.5%
British and American Investment Trust (LON:BAF) +7.4%
Bottom 10 (Equity only)
Sure Ventures (LON:SURE) -9.1%
Biotech Growth Trust (LON:BIOG) -6.6%
Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LON:LTI) -5%
JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust (LON:JFJ) -4.9%
Crystal Amber Fund (LON:CRS) -4.8%
Worldwide Healthcare Trust (LON:WWH) -4.6%
India Capital Growth Fund (LON:IGC) -4.2%
JPMorgan India Growth & Income (LON:JIGI) -4.1%
Nippon Active Value Fund (LON:NAVF) -3.3%
Fidelity China Special Situations (LON:FCSS) -3.1%
Top 10-All types
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) +55.4%
Schiehallion Fund (LON:MNTN) +24.2%
CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) +19.5%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) +14.4%
Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) +12.6%
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LON:SMT) +11.4%
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (LON:ORIT) +9.5%
Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) +9.1%
RTW Biotech Opportunities (LON:RTW) +8.8%
Top 5 for 2025
Golden Prospect Precious Metals (LON:GPM) +164.8%
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) +120.6%
DP Aircraft I (LON:DPA) +111.1%
CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) +101.8%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) +74.1%
Bottom 10 -All Types
SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (LON:SEIT) -12.1%
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LON:GSF) -12%
UIL Finance (LON:UTLH) -11%
Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure Trust (LON:RNEW) -10%
Sure Ventures (LON:SURE) -9.1%
Renewables Infrastructure (LON:TRIG) -7.1%
Biotech Growth Trust (LON:BIOG) -6.6%
Tetragon Financial (LON:TFG) -6.6%
Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust (LON:SBSI) -6.2%
Greencoat Renewables (LON:GRP) -5.6%
Bottom 5 -2025
Investment (THE) (LON:INV) -81.6%
Macau Property Opportunities Fund (LON:MPO) -74%
Digital 9 Infrastructure (LON:DGI9) -68.8%
Aquila Energy Efficiency Trust (LON:AEET) -45.2%
British and American Investment Trust (LON:BAF) -39.6%
ETF's
Top 5
Market Access NYSE Arca Gold BUGS In UCITS ETF (LON:GOLB) +16.2%
Global X Silver Miners ETF (LON:0IYF) +15.8%
L&G Gold Mining UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:AUCO) +15.5%
VanEck Junior Gold Miners UCITS ETF USD A (LON:GJGB) +15.3%
VanEck Gold Miners UCITS ETF USD A (LON:GDX) +14.9%
Top 5 for 2025
L&G Gold Mining UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:AUCO) +148%
Global X Silver Miners UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:SILV) +142%
VanEck Junior Gold Miners UCITS ETF USD A (LON:GJGB) +140%
VanEck Gold Miners UCITS ETF USD A (LON:GDX) +138%
Bottom 5
WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer (LON:QQQS) -18.4%
Global X Blockchain UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:BKCH) -14.2%
VanEck Crypto and Blckchn Innvtrs UCITS ETF USD A (LON:DAPP) -13.8%
WisdomTree Cloud Computing UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:WCLD) -9.1%
iShares Global Timber & Forestry UCITS ETF USD D (LON:WOOD) -8.4
Bottom 5 for 2025
WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer (LON:3GOS) -95%
WisdomTree Multi Asset Issuer (LON:QQQS) -88%
Leverage Shares (LON:NVDS) -84%
Boost Natural Gas 3x Leverage Daily ETP (LON:3NGL) -62%
iShares MSCI India UCITS USD (Acc) ETF (LON:IIND) -19%
Property Companies-Including REIT's
Top 5
Custodian Property Income Reit (LON:CREI) +3.3%
Land Securities (LON:LAND) +3.1%
British Land (LON:BLND) +3.0
Supermarket Income REIT (LON:SUPR) +2.9%
Big Yellow (LON:BYG) +2.7%
Top 5 for 2025
Warehouse REIT +51.6%
Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) +45.8%
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (LON:GRID) +44.2%
PRS Reit (LON:PRSR) +11.3%
Target Healthcare Reit (LON:THRL) +10.5%
Bottom 5
Digital 9 Infrastructure (LON:DGI9) -14.4%
LXi REIT (LON:LXI^C24) -5.8%
Unite (LON:UTG) -5.2%
Grainger (LON:GRI) -4.7%
Impact Healthcare (Care REIT) -4.1%
Worst 5 for 2025
Unite (LON:UTG) -32.1%
Safestore Holdings (LON:SAFE) -18.9%
SEGRO (LON:SGRO) -16.3%
Big Yellow (LON:BYG) 15.6%
Land Securities (LON:LAND) -12.1%
Disclaimer
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234 comments
Posting on the January thread as much of the below is still focused on year end.
Haven't posted in a while, busy with year ending accounting at work. Good to see Ken back and the usual subscribers posting.
Still catching up on my reading, I only just saw a table of the 2025 best performing sectors....
https://theaic.turtl.co/story/compass-december-2025/page/1
Not sure what is meant by 'growth capital' but disappointed not to see private equity in the table.
Btw, the January version of compass is available and there are 2 interesting pieces for me.... a good write up by Ian Cowie on Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) and also a piece on average discounts over the last 50 years. Never seen something like this before as 50 years is clearly a long time. Discounts averaged -26% in the 1970s but were only -2% in December 1993 post UK leaving the ERM.
https://theaic.turtl.co/story/compass-january-2026/page/1
Doesn't surprise me that commodities were top of the 2025 table. And have kept going, even taking into account the sell-off yesterday. I only hold BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) and would like to add to it but not at these levels. I liked the HSBC Under the Banyan Tree podcast the other day, it was a really good summary of where commodities have come from plus the impact of Covid, Ukraine, OPEC and the current Fed policies.
https://tinyurl.com/34bhkuyw
And I thought the latest episode named 'Anatomy of an Asian Retail Investor' had some surprising facts, namely that lots of Asian investors buy and hold the US market rather than their own. In short, the conclusion is that Asian markets have lots of room to grow.... volume and wealth generation.
https://tinyurl.com/5n8c9pxm
Charles posted on the Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) trading update. It's been a good holding for me, even if the yield is now lower than when I bought it. 33% LTV is sensible and weighted average cost of debt of 3.5% is okay as well. Mgt are focussed on large warehouses and data centres. And also selling off non-core properties from the UKCM acquisition. Stockopedia say 5.09% yield. It's a solid hold for me.
https://tinyurl.com/ykmsafr8
I'm thinking of increasing my holding of AVI Global Trust (LON:AGT). I liked the most recent newsletter, especially the value on offer in Japan & South Korea. Again, a solid, long term hold I think.
https://tinyurl.com/jdy4xw3x
Finally, I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the market to the latest Primary Health Properties (LON:PHP) RNS. Perhaps there was some doubt as to how well (or badly) the acquisition of Assura was going so maybe that was the reason for the positive reaction. Hidden in the detail are 2 pieces that I didn't like though: a LTV target of 40% to 50% is high for me (always prefer <40%) and also a WAULT of only 8.4 years on the majority of the UK assets seems low. I am almost finally at break even on the SP so will happily accept the 5.6% yield but it's maybe not as low risk as I originally thought.
https://tinyurl.com/3zu957x2
SSB
Interesting SSB. I was in the IT sector late 70's early 80's as an Institutional Sales person on the WoodMac team. Discounts were huge- boring and underperforming trusts like TR Industrial and General on 32% as I recall. Changes were forced through, discounts narrowed, but now they have gone out again. Saba may be seen as bad guys, but same happened in the 1990's. Good performing and interesting specialist Trusts should be at NAV or near enough. SSIT was a classic case where the market had it wrong.
Gold down 5% and silver 13%. BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) have inevitably taken a hit too. I top sliced both earlier this week because the previous huge gains made these two a too large percentage of my portfolio.
Question now…..is this a blip or a bursting of a bubble? Both BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) have gone way above previous highs? My guess short term is heightened volatility which is often a feature of a market top or bottom.
If wary and now having doubts, and especially so if investors bought recently after the huge gains instead of before them, then hopefully there will be up days to cut the loss or part reduce. And if confident of further big sector gains, then further big down days (if they happen) are the time to buy.
As to whether we’ve seen the peak…..as always we won’t know until after the event.
As you know I bought both CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and Serabi Gold (LON:SRB) quite recently and certainly could have timed it better. On the other hand I sold my holding in BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) , so there was some method in my madness and it goes like this. Firstly, that CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) is a diversified play, giving access to resources in the broadest sense, allowing management to decide how to invest. They seem to know what they're doing. Secondly, it has moved into being much more of a dividend share, albeit, as you point out, the dividend is based around NAV. But that suits me fine, as any oscillations in the share price are less important than the underlying value of the assets, no? Obviously and conversely, one has to keep in mind the direction of NAV. Concerning Serabi Gold (LON:SRB) , again, i should have waited for the inevitable pullback. Sadly there was a death at the mine earlier in the week, which puts everything else into perspective. But it has also not been immune to the pullback in gold, However, if you are, as I am, a value/income investor you have to take seriously the rather strikingly low PE of 4, which comes with a equal percentage in dividend income, do you not?
To conclude, i am never very pleased with myself when I fail to enter a share at the right time, particularly when influenced, unconsciously or not, by FOMO. But I think the case for holding both is sound.
In a related observation, I seen that John Barron's growth and income folios feature in this week's IC: and they both carry more than 20% metals. My total weighting, which includes Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) - down even more sharply this morning - is about 8% weighting. And they all contribute dividend income.
In a related observation, I seen that John Barron's growth and income folios feature in this week's IC: and they both carry more than 20% metals. My total weighting, which includes Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) - down even more sharply this morning - is about 8% weighting. And they all contribute dividend income.
JB did state he'd been top-slicing his commodity holdings, albeit he thinks they still have further to run. Which is about as far as my analysis has taken me as well.
Gold is not outside of its historical real range when adjusted for inflation and monetary expansion. For example, 1 oz of gold buys around 3 weeks weeks rent in London - the same as in the 1980s and 1990s. That said it is very near its purchasing power peak - the easy gains have been had, from here on it's either a behavioural bubble or a massive crisis for it to go higher.
On a similar basis silver is probably below its peak, possibly well below it. Platinum looks very cheap.
You pays your money and takes your choice, but in these uncertain times there's a strong argument for holding some precious metals and other commodities as a hedge regardless of other considerations.
timarr
Hi Brucie
fwiw ….as long as the stake sizes are modest then isn’t the buying of the likes of CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and similar now, acceptable even if they go badly wrong and the negative effect on the portfolio is modest? Obviously as timarr posted earlier, the easy gains are long gone though.
Guess most know this, but a feature of market/sector tops is widespread bullish comment with some predicting there’s much more to come. That tempts investors who have missed out by not buying sooner, to buy very late for fear of missing out and ending up buying at or near the peak.
Conversely a feature of market bottoms is the reverse, with dire warnings that there is much worse ahead. That results in investors being scared to buy, or worse still, selling out at or near the bottom.
A few of us here ignore that commentary and buy the big falls and take profits after big gains (e.g I top sliced both CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) this week after both had quintupled) and buy the big dips. It works very well overall.
I often ask myself whether diversification is in itself a value added to a portfolio equivalent to a few percentage points in your YTD, or annual dividend, because it serves as insurance against what you don't know might happen. Mark Twain said, Put all your eggs in one basket, but watch that basket! I respectfully disagree. He had no end of financial problems... Though he did write very good books.
I have sold Life Science Reit (LON:LABS) this morning after reflecting on it. A higher bid seems unlikely and the turmoil in the metals market might offer a buying opportunity so will sit on the cash for now.
Increased my holdings today in Jpmorgan China Growth & Income (LON:JCGI)
Starmers visit remind me that China surely must be a beneficiary of the geopolitical changes across the world; more countries are forming alliances with them as the old-world regime stumbles. In addition it is well known that they have some very strong technology companies and with the US causing ructions there might be a push towards Chinese companies as a beneficiary.
From what I hear a lot of capital is leaving the US markets and some of it must be going to the 2nd/next largest economy in the world. Whilst it may have had a poor couple of years, you cannot ignore that there is a significant bowl forming in the chart (5yr chart below) and the 2-yr return of just under 50% is not to be sneezed at.
Thanks Kevin. I hold Fidelity China Special Situations (LON:FCSS) and was thinking of increasing or buying an ETF. Will have a look at JCGI.
Did a quick comparison between Fidelity China Special Situations (LON:FCSS) Jpmorgan China Growth & Income (LON:JCGI) and a random ETF Franklin FTSE China UCITS ETF (LON:FRCH)
Interesting that over 1,3 & 5 yrs the Fidelity & Franklin funds are almost like for like performance wise and clearly outperform the JPM fund. Just hope the JPM fund catches up over the next few years.
Kevin
Your decision to add to Jpmorgan China Growth & Income (LON:JCGI) looks a good one in my opinion, including for reasons you explained in your post yesterday.
Jpmorgan China Growth & Income (LON:JCGI) has a dividend policy of 4% of NAV. With NAV having risen that means a forthcoming increase of 24%.( See the Kepler research for much more). And if NAV keeps rising then the yield and capital gain will be well worth having!
So Jpmorgan China Growth & Income (LON:JCGI) was my choice when buying during the April buy opportunity last year. My holding is up a useful 36% since then. Could be a lot further to go for China? If not interested in dividends then arguably Fidelity China Special Situations (LON:FCSS) is the better choice.
Here’s the link for the Kepler research on Jpmorgan China Growth & Income (LON:JCGI) including comment on the dividend policy.
https://www.trustintelligence....
Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) Edison have just published a research note https://www.edisongroup.com/re...
Sold my holding in J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) which had done OK but cannot see any great hopes of the share price doing much this year( which probably means a bid will come !). Invested proceeds in more Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) and bought back into IP (LON:IPO) . I held IPO a few years ago and keep an eye on it. Saba have increased their holding today and despite the fact I expect a NAV fall at the next announcement of 3-5p it is still trading at a large discount- I paid 59.82p and the NAV will be I expect 91-92p. I could have waited but Saba will no doubt be stirring things up. IPO should have large cash reserves following the sale of Featurespace, estimated at £230m against total assets last declared at £883m. The holding in Pulmocide is the main problem- trial abandoned due to adverse findings and will probably be written off- the carrying value was £28m. Istesso and Artios have also faced difficulties. But the public. listed holdings in Oxford Nanopore Technologies (LON:ONT) and Hinge Health (NYQ:HNGE) have performed alright.
Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) has a great performance. Completely outperforms what I thought was a great performance from my preferred unit-trust; Redwheel Next Generation EM across nearly all periods.
I may need to consider a holding in FEML.
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) "Vietnam is edging closer to investment-grade sovereign credit rating—a potential inflection point for capital flows. Such an upgrade could unlock access to a broader universe of global institutional investors, lower funding costs for both the sovereign and Vietnamese corporates, support currency stability, and accelerate infrastructure investment." https://vinacapital.com/wp-con...
"First Trust has joined the nuclear ETF bandwagon as the once-marginalised power source continues its comeback.
The First Trust Bloomberg Nuclear Power UCITS ETF (RCTR) debuts with a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.70% and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.First Trust BBG Nuclear Power UCITS ETF A Acc (LON:RCTR)
RCTR will track the Bloomberg Nuclear Power Select index, a gauge of up to 50 leading nuclear-power related companies.
Determined by Bloomberg Intelligence, the index constituents are selected based on revenue exposure and competitive positioning within the nuclear space, with ‘gold-tier’ companies capped at 4.5% and ‘silver-tier’ firms at 3%.
"Exciting technologies like AI are driving unprecedented demand for electrical power – all while the global economy is relying more heavily on intermittent energy sources like wind and solar,” said Rupert Haddon, managing director at First Trust Global Portfolios."
https://www.etfstream.com/arti...
Has anyone else received abrdn European Logistics Income (LON:ASLI) voting instructions for the EGM re DL Invest wanting to stop the wind down? Yesterday’s RNS stated the board ( sensibly in my view) recommended voting against the resolutions yet in the voting instruction it states that the board is recommending a vote for the resolutions. Have I misunderstood or has some one made a serious error?
I emailed them about this yesterday and lo and behold a revised voting instruction arrived this morning. They acknowledged my email and noted the error saying it would be corrected. Very poor administration from someone and no great thanks for pointing out what could have been a very serious error!
If anyone knows why HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT) share price is falling I would be interested as a holder. I can find no bad news unless it is the OneStream takeover. The rest of the portfolio looks OK with Visma hoping to IPO in the next 6 months. Maybe it is a concern about AI in the software sector. Comments would be welcome as tempted to buy more, but not if a fundamental issue re portfolio valuations.
HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT) I have not seen anything in public domain to explain this. SP has been quite weak in the last year against a strong market and this looks like another movement within the same price channel.
Interesting to read Oakley Capital Investments (LON:OCI) Update today which mentions a more cautious approach to valuations and marking down some in line with peer valuations. I suspect that both trusts are quite careful with valuations through audit requirements and the like. Oakley Capital Investments (LON:OCI) has a large proportion (35%) in recent additions and they tend not to move the NAV until later in ownership when start looking to market for sale.
Long term I would say both offer value at present
Yes, I think it's probably on concerns about AI and software companies, as seen by the falls in share prices of listed companies - Led by Salesforce and Workday, SaaS stocks fell widely this week after Anthropic introduced Claude Cowork.
Kevin- You hold the European Banking ETF as I recall- what do you think about this once the election is done- assuming UK investors can access it ?
Nikkei Inc. officially announced today, January 28, 2026, the launch of the Nikkei Bank Stock Top 10 Index. Calculation and publication of the index will begin on February 2, 2026.
While no fund provider has formally "ticked the box" on a specific ticker yet, the market landscape and timing suggest that official ETF filings from major Japanese asset managers are imminent.
Who is likely to launch an ETF?
Historically, when Nikkei launches a specialized or "Top 10" style index, the usual suspects in the Japanese ETF market follow within weeks or months. Based on current market activity and their existing relationships with Nikkei, you should watch:
Hi Charles.
That does look interesting - with increasing interest rates then Japanese Banks should begin to increase their profits, along with the shareholder activism/market-changes that are happening.
My research shows there to be 111 specific banks that are Members of the Japanese Banks Association, so the Top-10 appears to hold a decent overall Market Cap ie. it wont be too small.
My current plan is to monitor closely Nippon Active Value Fund (LON:NAVF) and see what happens in the Japanese election on Sunday 8th Feb. Perhaps if the forecasts look favourable I might be tempted to buy back in early and look for a bounce.
I will keep an eye out for any signs of an ETF being launched.
Thanks for flagging this up.
Very good update from Newriver Reit (LON:NRR) today. Here’s the start of their update…..it’s worth reading all of it of course. 9% dividend looks secure:-
“We delivered another strong quarter of operational performance, with growing demand across our core markets driving strong leasing activity and rising occupancy. We remained disciplined in recycling capital, improving our portfolio quality and strengthening our financial position.
With market conditions becoming more supportive and our portfolio in its best shape since before the pandemic, we move into FY27 with real momentum. We are confident in our ability to deliver further earnings growth and a well covered dividend."
I hold.
I'm pleased too, Ken. That's as good a TU as we could hope for, with a small but nice kicker at the end about a new 'experential leasure' customer for Cardiff. With interest rates likely to decline further this year, this seems a very solid long-term hold.
Life Science Reit (LON:LABS) Bid by British Land (LON:BLND) . I hold both so will be selling LABS. End of a rather painful review by the board which further reduced value to shareholders. Bid is worth about 42p per labs share a discount to NAV of 57p. Will another bid emerge? I will hold for a while and see.
I happen to hold some British Land (LON:BLND) , which is how I noticed. It doesn't seem to have made much difference to the latter, being such a large fish. But does underline its advantages of scale if it's able to pick off smaller players at a discount. Elsewhere the folio seems to be on fire today. Good news renewable wind and solar, of which I hold a few, in some clarification from DENZ over pricing. Greencoat UK Wind (LON:UKW) and NextEnergy Solar Fund (LON:NESF) particular beneficiaries. Though of course Farage waits in the wings to take us back to the dirty stuff.
I do hope Farage wings get clipped. British Land is looking pretty solid and as you say opportunities to pick off some of the wounded REIT's. I will probably express myu feelings about the board of LAB in my Feb review of January. But if they think they have maximised value as I recall they said recently rather than take a low offer then what changed. And was the recent write down just co-incidence or aimed at making a low offer look slightly better by reducing ANV and the share price. Said it now so maybe will not mention again !!
For us sighing holders of renewable energy ITs, here's a Kepler report for encouragement. https://www.trustintelligence....
It may be partisan, and so am I, but it does reflect my thinking quite well. If we didn't already own quite a bit of Greencoat UK Wind (LON:UKW) , I would be buying more at this level. I am a touch concerned that Trump's actions are progressively undermining the $ (he may want that actually), making US stocks perhaps a touch less enticing, and UK ones more reliable?
My review this morning to identify holdings to cut in order to create a bigger cash holding led to the following;
Sold Nippon Active Value Fund (LON:NAVF) across all of my PF's - this has done very well since buying in mid-23. I really like this trust, but I am concerned with what is currently happening in Japan with regards to Bond prices, inflation and the snap-election. When things settle down I can see myself buying back in, but I don't fully understand all of what is happening so am more comfortable in protecting profits.
Sold out of a couple of single companies - again with the objective of protecting profits - Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS) which announced it had bought another boat yesterday. Longer term this might lead to improved financials, but its short term objective was to reduce debt and this smacks to me of a management team just looking to buy more assets. Might be wrong, but again I had done well since buying in October.
I also switched my UK unit-trust holdings from TM Brickwood to Artemis Smart GARP. I really like the Artemis process across a number of their unit-trusts and its results over 1,3 & 5yrs have been pretty good. Whilst the Brickwood results since its launch in late Feb-25 look perfectly acceptable (20%) it is nowhere near as good as the Artemis results of 37%.
I've also started to look a bit for themes for 2026 which havent already rocketed eg. gold & silver etc. One I fancy looking into a bit more is the energy market - O&G are very much out of favour at the moment, but there might be an issue shortly should the US go into Iran. Not a lot else on the radar at the moment, but emerging markets still seems to be doing well.
Largest risers in my folio this morning are Serabi Gold (LON:SRB) , CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) . Gold over 5k/oz, the trend seems to continue unabated. In terms of past bubbles - (is it a bubble?) we are possibly nearer December 1999, than March of the following year? In which case, further to go. Possibly much further, in line with US debt and the increasing destabilisation of that country.
Not as glamorous as gold or silver for news reporters but copper is having a run. I hold iShares Copper Miners UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (LON:MINE) and although I sold my silver last week as the rapid price rise started making my thing of the Bunker Hunt rise of silver in the early 1980’s when despite buying all the silver they could , the market won and the pice fell sharply. Not saying this is happening now but having made a good return I was happy to sell. Copper is in and will be in demand for EV and PV and increasing production takes time apparently ( new mines). I also looked at graphite, but no easy exposure through an ETf, just battery and solar etf’s. Nickel is being held back as Indonesia is flooding the market. The other metal I am considering is Aluminium through Wisdomtree Commodity Securities (LON:ALUM) . The metal will be in demand . However the price may not be a rapid riser as recycling aluminium is pretty effective. But a steady increase over a couple of years might suit after the heady rises of Gold and Silver. Still hold Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) which I have held for 12 years or so. Keep top slicing it, think about selling it all but the price keeps going up. So will continue to hold as it is interesting company expansion case.
Alot of industrial metals are having a very strong run at the moment. I hold both L&G Battery Value-Chain UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:BATG) and Global X Solar UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:RAYG) . Lithium has been going up just as strongly as silver for the last month, but doesn't seem to have had as much attention. My thesis on cobalt last year was correct, shame that I didnt have the conviction that it would more than double (I am sure that this is a common complaint !). Aluminium is a strong contender when copper gets expensive as a replacement conductor, but the reality is that this is more difficult to implement than it appears at first glance (due to the stong tendency to oxidise). I would guess that the aluminium price is highly correlated to energy prices (also due to the massive amount of energy required to reverse that oxidation tendency !). I have to wonder when the commodity price increase will filter through to inflation. Energy prices have been the solution for the time being, I dont think that this is a coincidence.
I am happy to have sold silver and my gold ETF- just holding Perseus Mining in Australia. So many are on the gold/silver wagon (not referring to Stocko but wider public) that Iam happy to be going the other way. Could well be wrong of course but I will not be losing any sleep over it.
Its a tough one to call when the top is in and/or whether there might be a pull-back.
I have some slight sellers remorse at having sold out largely of Golden Prospect Precious Metals (LON:GPM) and completely of Invesco Physical Markets (LON:SLVP) and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM)
I don't have a copper ETF but intend hanging onto my Jubilee Metals (LON:JLP) - high risk. I'll also keep my Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) and also a couple of Canadian miners.
I am though beginning to think there surely must be some kind of pullback soon - can't remember a January being as strong as this for a long time.
Might be time to take some money off the table and keep some cash on the sidelines, but trying to time the market is never easy and can easily backfire, but I don't want to be too greedy.
Will do a full end-to-end review of the PF tomorrow and see what looks sensible to top-slice. Obviously holding a fair few unit-trusts is never easy to trade as it can take a couple of days and potentially a full week for a round trip.
Kevin, As I often say I am rubbish at timing. I just go with what makes me comfortable. It does mean I lose out on some bull runs, but as I do freely admit I am a trader in a % of the portfolios. I tend to work on a % gain and am not that stressed if the market goes up more.
Kevin
Agree with you about the surprising and continuing strength in the market through Jan so far. Market is usually as miserable as the weather once the Santa Rally runs out of steam! So far not this year.
If you share the views of James Alistair on metals demand/pricing you wouldn't be thinking of selling til next Christmas at least. His substack also hosts an interesting selection of articles, sources and knowledgeable presenters. Always nice to tuck away some profit and I mistimed a couple of top slices and sale of BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) holding pre-Christmas. Never wrong to take a profit even if they have all gone up 20%+ since. P/F so far this year is up 6-7% and I feel better balanced too.
Most recent buys have been Baker Steel Resources Trust (LON:BSRT) and Serica Energy (LON:SQZ. Waiting for a pullback in Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) and today might provide it! Trump and the over emotive language being used to classify everything as an emergency or essential for national security playing into the hands of patient asset owners. I might like all that to calm down but the only way to make that happen seems to be to limit ones consumption of News and Current Affairs. 24 Hour News probably the worst thing that has ever happened.
Markets are unpredictable. It’s impossible to time our buys and sells so that we buy at the bottom and sell at the top. Will there be a market pullback soon? Who knows? Will the great gold run continue or soon come to an end? Again who knows? Once an investor accepts that they can’t forecast markets and bases their buys and sells on investment reasons instead, doesn’t performance improve?
The key thing is to buy the dips and top slice during big gains like now. It works. it also makes sell decisions easier.
e.g today I’ve had to top slice both BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) simply because combined they were a too large part of the portfolio. Because I bought ahead of the gains instead of during them ,both had risen well over 5 fold. I’ve still got large stakes even after the top slice today.
Health reasons and a wish to leave my wife a worry free do nothing portfolio means I trade as little as possible…..but not top slicing huge winners makes no sense. It’s “free money” for more big dividend paying shares and Trusts. And a profit is never a certain profit until it is taken.
Will I regret top slicing if both CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) double again from here? . No! It’s a fabulous profit and I’ve still got plenty running for better than free……as I have other shares bought near the lows and top sliced for the same reason. e.g likeMarks and Spencer (LON:MKS) where I had bought some as low as the 80s and most around £1 and had to top slice at over £4 because it was well over my maximum in any one share rule…..and luckily ahead of the cyber attack.
And the profit taken today can go on more big dividend paying shares and Trusts. Surprisingly there are a few bargains around. More on a few of those later.
Keen to hear where you currently see bargains Ken.
I agree timing is impossible to get right 100% of the time, but sometimes having a risk-off attitude works, if even just for your own sanity.
I don't need to blow the doors off, so less greed and more risk adverse works for me currently.
If things drop then I will be happy as I have cash to deploy, and if they don't and the momentum continues I wont regret things as I have profited so far and am happy with progress.
Still comfortable with the UK and EM prospects. Am also a bit of a contrarian on O&G, but mining is getting bit rich so my exposure has been cut back (but not eradicated altogether).
Next few weeks should be interesting.
All the best. K
Thanks Kevin.
Do these look to be bargain buys?
Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust (LON:DIG) . Potential investors might not have spotted the new progressive dividend policy and 6% of NAV target. It goes ex a 4.25p dividend on Feb 5th…..and it will be upped to 7.4p next time. So Yield looks like rising to about 9% with potential for further increase. Note that Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (LON:AAIF) has done well since its upping of the dividend policy. I hold both.
Chelverton UK Dividend Trust (LON:SDV) . Doing nothing for now, but I like their TOP10 and 10p a year dividend gives around 7% dividend. I hold.
Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) is an old favourite of the Naked Trader/Robbie Burns. I can’t see why the share price has fallen from £20 to under £14. Their November trading update was quite positive. They increased the most recent dividend and the yield is now about 8%. . Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) hasn’t cut the dividend for multiple years. Now looks a very good entry point at multi year low and I bought yesterday.
Also note that at last Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) is doing better. It goes ex the next 6.25p dividend tomorrow. Yield still about 9%.
Supermarket Income REIT (LON:SUPR) also goes ex dividend tomorrow. Yield is a tad over 7%.
Impax Asset Management (LON:IPX) goes ex a big (5%) dividend on 19th February.
Note that CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) goes ex the increased 7p dividend on Feb 5th. I’ve just cut my holding. I was aware of imminent ex dividend but decided not to risk a share price fall between now and then.
I hold all these Trusts and shares.
Are there similar or better bargains still around that I’ve missed?
Just to say (in case anyone saw the post straight away) that I’ve now added to my post just now including correcting a couple of the dividend yields and adding other Trusts and shares to the list
Thanks Ken - very interesting.
I am tending not to buy many more single companies currently unless they have a compelling case and I can see a decent return - I think Cockney Rebel calls it a One Bagger in a Year.
I don't tend to go that extreme as I think that is too much risk for me, but I like the current process of Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) - I have considered it in the past but whenever I have done so it has been a lot higher and not offering the value it currently does.
I also noticed that a lot of the major holders had upped their stakes over the last few months with Aberdeen (the biggest holder) increasing by nearly 10% this January. Only 1 seller (and that was a minor amount) from the major holders in the last 6 months.
So thank you - I have taken a position here and will now look to investigate a bit more on some of the others you mention above.
As I have mentioned previously I do think the UK offers good value at the moment - I just need to cut some of my losers in the smaller stuff and focus a bit more on medium caps.
As I said yesterday I have now switched nearly all of my UK collective investments to the Unit Trust - Artemis Smart GARP UK Value. Whilst also holding a small amount in Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) and Rockwood Strategic (LON:RKW) plus some minuscule holdings in a FSTE100 tracker, Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU) and NextEnergy Solar Fund (LON:NESF) - the latter couple awaiting transfer into next years ISA, probably as cash.
Hi ken
I bought Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) on Monday, I also can't see why it's fallen so far. Another one to tuck away and forget about for a while.
timarr
A strange coincidence Ken, I also bought Telecom Plus a fortnight ago as thought the markdown looks overdone. You mentioned Impax but I’ve just bought Premier Miton back, have a look at the share page. Similar business to Impax and Liontrust which have suffered from outflows but hopefully there are signs that the tide may shortly start to turn and at 45p hopefully I’m buying back in somewhere near the low. Having bought Aberdeen a couple of years ago and seen the share price rise very nicely, going with our buy low sell high method I’ve cashed half of my chips with the rest virtually in for free. Arguably should have sold out completely!
Thanks for that reply george54. Re Premier Miton (LON:PMI) ….I guess you’ve seen the high quality analysis here following their recent Results? If not here’s the link to imo a must read thread on the Companies and Trusts reporting that day:-
https://www.stockopedia.com/co...
Also from the stock report page (again you probably know this) the “Discussions” heading brings up the latest analysis on that share.
I don’t hold Premier Miton (LON:PMI) but do hold equally risky Impax Asset Management (LON:IPX) …….though both could be at or near the bottom now. I also hold Polar Capital Holdings (LON:POLR) which imo is the best quality Fund Manager choice.
Also in case this is helpful info for you and others posting here, if you click the @ key and then the code for each share or Trust, it highlights that share in blue and takes us straight to the Stock Report page for that share/Trust.
Agree that Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) is looking tempting with the pullback late last year. However the drop in PBT and adjusted EPS was around 25%. Does that not raise concerns over full year forecast?
Revenue up nicely, customer retention and Divi always decent here. Commentary on TalkTalk conversions positive too. Where is the risk/reward balance? Is it in the price?
Hi sevenccc
Despite the first half PBT and EPS the company stated it is on track to meet full year expectations albeit with the usual H2 weighting. Previous year weightings have been 35/65 but I do accept that this has changed to 25/75 this year.
Slightly concerning, yes of course, but this wasn't the main reason for the share price markdown. The market reacted to changes in the phasing of certain industry costs such as metering but customer numbers have increased by 20% which the company says should set off this weighting percentage change.
Fingers crossed on that but current EPS forecasts are for 127.3 rising to 134.9 next April. If achieved that drops the forward multiple to a fraction over 10 which is a multi year low.
Fwiw Investec have a price target of £24 which isn't far off double today's share price. Okay I dunno whether we can believe those forecasts but that aside the dividend is around 8%.
Time will tell but like others I reckon taking into account the company's past track record the risk/reward at this price is worth taking. Hopefully we will be proved correct but if future newsflow isn't as expected I'll be out immediately.
Thanks George. Appreciate your analysis. I'm trying to stay grounded as the year has started on a turbo. My danger is getting too optimistic in these circumstances. Trying to let commodity winners run having top sliced too soon amid the madness from over the water. Also looking to pick up a few out of favour, like O&G, TEP. Appreciate Ken and yourself sharing thoughts on neglected laggards with good prospects. I'm sure we'll have a pullback before too long so really useful to have some diversification into solid repeat businesses.
Yes Charles I agree, it leaves me in a bit of a bind. Over 50% of my portfolio is in metals commodities of one sort or another, more if you include iShares MSCI South Africa UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (LON:SRSA) and Xtrackers MSCI Mexico UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XMEX) which are undoubtably also linked to the precious metals rise. A nice problem to have, but I am seriously overweight commodities and my knuckles are getting whiter by the day.
Charles
Just a note on Indonesia flooding the market.
I think this is maybe less true than it was following the Sumatra disaster.
A lot of pressure on politicians and in course miners of Nickel and palm oil. The politicians that issued the permits are under intense scrutiny so Ive heard the flooding of the nickel market is likely to stop.
Read this somewhere else too so don't think I dreamt it.
Worth further investigation .
Will do Planetx- back home tomorrow so will do some deeper research. Thank you.
Not about a specific IT/UT/ETF but interesting to see HL have announced a new pricing structure this morning. I've just posted this on a previous "Best Broker" thread.
I see that HL have this morning announced a reduction in fees - but also some new charges.
A reduced holding charge from 0.45% to 0.35%, reduced dealing fees from £11.95 to £6.95 (but also reduced further if over 20 trades per month - same as currently in place) and a new charge of £1.95 for any unit trust deals.
The holding charge relates to Unit Trusts - for shares, IT's and ETF's an annual limit of £150 in most accounts (SIPP, ISA etc).
I still don't think this makes it particularly competitive so will do a bit more work on comparisons before deciding whether to move or not.
I reckon I could potentially save a couple of thousand pounds per year by moving to II - based on a high number of deals/trades I undertake (a lot - too many maybe) and a large number of Unit-Trust holdings driving a high holding charge vs IT, ETF's & shares.
Investor Meet Company this week.
F&C Investment Trust (LON:FCIT) F&C INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Shareholder update
28th Jan 2026 at 10:00am GMT
Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU) AEW UK REIT PLC
Q3 Update
29th Jan 2026 at 10:00am GMT
EJF Investments (LON:EJFI) EJF INVESTMENTS LTD
Update and outlook for 2026
29th Jan 2026 at 11:00am GMT
River UK Micro Cap (LON:RMMC) RIVER UK MICRO CAP LIMITED
Quarterly Investor Update
29th Jan 2026 at 11:00am GMT
Decided to get back into CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) . Maybe late in the cycle but it seems to be doing everything right, while prioritising dividends. It also seems to have the widest remit between different types of commodities, so if the management are to be trusted, they should be able to switch back between commodity classes. Also took a belated inaugural position in Serabi Gold (LON:SRB) . I know, I know; but a PE of 4 does appear screamingly cheap.
On the other hand, I am now totally our of BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) , Central Asia Metals (LON:CAML) and Diversified Energy Co (LON:DEC) While increasing positions in Ingenta (LON:ING) and Ithaca Energy (LON:ITH) . The former has an amazing recovery chart and excellent Stocko rating; the latter is of course a value NS oil play with a very high headline dividend. I also hold Serica Energy (LON:SQZ) .
Still dithering on Vietnam, I'm afraid, Ken! I do like my dividends.
Hi Brucie
Your post made me question my illogicality in happily holding 3 non dividend paying (except for small VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) dividend) Vietnam Trusts while deciding against soaring Trusts non dividend Trusts like Golden Prospect Precious Metals (LON:GPM) and Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) . I guess it’s largely due to wanting to have a portfolio that looks after itself.
You’re very brave buying CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) at a premium and after the massive gains. My gain on the original buy has now more than quintupled……as has the Virtual Portfolio holding. Good luck with that buy and Serabi Gold (LON:SRB.
Presumably you know that CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) dividend policy is 8% of NAV? So the yield will drop if and when NAV falls back, and increase even further if (but will it???) NAV increases even further.
Yes, it really goes against the grain to be buying back CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) when it's already done so well. And no longer at a discount! Question is though, does it accord with my strategy? Firstly, I definitely want exposure to commodities and dividends are higher than BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM), albeit linked to NAV, as you point out. Secondly, it's remit is surely wider, to give more scope for coverage of what may turn out to be a resources suoercycle. Thirdly, though this overlaps with my first point, I continue to see a flight out of USD and continued flow of money into hard assets.
So I think I'm being consistent in most respects, except possibly my general predisposition to "value" . In this case I may of course have bought at the top!
Let's see.
I am seriously considering buying Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LON:LTI) for my long term SIPP portfolio. It is trading at a 20% discount and in my opinion the holdings are decent quality businesses. Quality has been out of fashion but surely this will change at some point and being contrary in nature i look at potential trend reversals and undervalued situations rather than buy something which has had a fantastic year and is at all time highs. YES we all know they have had a terrible five years but it is the future I am more concerned with! Any views ?
RE: Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LON:LTI)
Well, I hold. It's been a dog, but there's definitely value there.
However, if you're going to consider a purchase you need to understand the role and value of the stake in Lindsell Train Ltd. This article by Maynard Payton is a decent place to start noting that it's a bit out of date with regard to the actual holdings: https://knowledge.sharescope.c...
Broad brush the impact of this is that falling FuM has a geared impact on the NAV (due to lowering the value and income of Lindsell Train Ltd), and therefore the share price. As and when that goes into reverse then the opposite will occur.
Overall, I think everyone can now see that the stunning performance of LT (also Fundsmith and Buffetology) over the previous decade was partially luck, where the approaches taken aligned with the market conditions. People being what they are many investors ascribed the outperformance entirely to skill, and projected that skill infinitely into the future. At one point Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LON:LTI) was trading at twice book value despite the Chairman stating that the price was insane.
It is interesting to note that many previous cheerleaders for these funds are now sharply critical of their managers, who haven't changed their approaches much at all. Active managers who have actively avoided the Mag7 have been harshly derated - perhaps justifiably although personally I don't want to buy a pseudo-indexer in the form of an investment trust.
I think the LTI portfolio is OK although not spectacular. As is the way of things they've suffered additionally from various black swans - Diageo (LON:DGE) suddenly running into issues in distribution and concerns over generational changes in alcohol consumption, Relx (LON:REL) and London Stock Exchange (LON:LSEG) being hit due to AI worries, etc.
So - yes, a decent buy at these levels, although when the ship will turn is anyone's guess. I'd expect the dividend to be further reduced this year unless there's a turnaround in FuM - which seems unlikely at this stage.
I consider it a useful diversification, given that I don't hold any of the underlying companies apart from Relx (LON:REL). I certainly would not want to hold this as part of a small portfolio.
timarr
This may be of interest to the pro Vietnam contingent. And those, like me, still sat on the fence.
2030 is not so far away, so if achieved would surely be beneficial to the investment case. Even getting close to it from this point would be some achievement IMHO
https://www.bbc.com/news/artic...
This podcast might also be of interest?
Conversation with Craig Martin, Chairman of Dynam Capital, the investment manager behind Vietnam Holding (VNH).
(YouTube link, it's 30 minutes long).
Vietnam , the latest report fromVietNam Holding (LON:VNH) explains more of why the trust under-performed the index https://www.vietnamholding.com...
CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) have increased their dividend again today. It’s 7p paid quarterly. 32% yield at the buy price of my main stake!
Also Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) goes ex dividend next week. It’s 6.25p paid quarterly for a yield of almost 10%.
Invesco Asia Dragon Trust (LON:IAD) Just read the report, I do not hold it. I had to google what the Chairman meant by this " The tail risk, the black swan, is now a market melt-up." So markets could rise if a FOMO occurs is I understand what he meant. I need to look at the trusts portfolio in more detail -here is the RNS https://newsfile.refinitiv.com...
Hi Charles, excuse me if I am asking something you have already answered.
Up until mid-2025 across both 3 & 5 years it seemed to do absolutely nothing. Then in the 2nd half of 2025 it took off like a scalded cat and produced its 35-40% return.
I am aware it is the coming together of two IT's, but do you know the background and what suddenly caused the excellent upturn in performance - new managers, new holdings, new strategy????
If they can continue to produce excellent returns then it seems like a good opportunity, but I'd like to know more about the catalyst for the re-rating.
I think it's probably more market/ region specific rather than trust specific? eg - Fidelity Asian Values (LON:FAS) also went nowhere for about 3 or 4 years, then took off after hitting a low point during the Trump tariff turmoil in the first couple of weeks of April 2025. As did Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) as did I think many other EM and Asia Pacific trusts, funds and etfs.
For example, after hitting a new high today, I noticed that iShs MSCI AC Far East exJpn Smll Cp UCITS ETF USDD (LON:ISFE) is now up over 50% since the April low last year...
April 2025 to now is about 9 months, but looking at the top 20 trusts over the past 1 year (only options on Trustnet are 6 months or 1 year), there are a few EM and Asia trusts in there, so performance since the April 2025 lows will be even better than the 1 year numbers here:
Thanks Duveteux. I think you are right - having looked at some specific dates I can see things kicked off straight around the tariff turmoil - interestingly my own EM choice also behaved similarly - I think the reason I hadn't noticed it was that I have been topping up so the TR doesn't look quite as good as if I ignored/removed the latter purchases.
I'll stick with my EM choice (Redwheel Next Generation EM) for the moment as its still going strong.
Not sure at what point the broader EM falls behind an Asian Focus?
As Duveteux said maybe fortuitous. But they also got discount down. Not one I have looked at so will be.
Ken, intrigued by your interest in Vietnam, which you describe as a 'must have'. I notice that the yield on VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) (1.96%) is not far off the yield at BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) (2.27%) , which is looking a bit toppy, so considering whether to take some off the table. But why such is Vietnam such a conviction buy/hold for you? And what do others think? What about India, for example, if we're looking for geographical diversification? A already hold Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (LON:AAIF) and Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) is full holdings.
Brucie, Vietnam has a fast growing GDP, a well- educated population and despite being a communist state a desire to increase the wealth of the population. This might be of interest from Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) https://www.investormeetcompan... and also this from VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) https://vinacapital.com/wp-con...
The managers of VNH have a substck here https://dynamcapital.substack....
I hold VOF, VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) and a ETF tracker of the index. Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) .
All trusts did underperform the Index badly , but was due to one stock rising that none of them held. " The underperformance when compared against the index is largely attributable to a stock we don't own on fundamental grounds - Vingroup (VIN) - gaining 600 percent during the year.
We hope to do better next year, and that our focussed active management will reap more visible rewards in the New Year."
Vietnam should become a FTSE emerging market later this year, initial approval give, and MSCI should follow in 2027. This should attract more overseas buying.
Funnily enough I made an investment into Vietnam this morning. I had gone back to the start of this months thread and undertaken a search on Vietnam to remind myself what people had said - I found this mornings VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) monthly report quite interesting and also felt things might be a little bit more stable after yesterdays Davos shenanigans!!!
After considering the three IT's alongside Charles mention of the Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) I went for the ETF in the end. The 2yr chart (the one below is the 1yr chart) shows VEIL & the ETF level pegging. Over 3yrs VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) is also level pegging the above two, but the 1 & 2yr charts were enough to put me off. Only time will tell.
This afternoon I shall be looking at my commodity holdings and also some Oil/Gas shares.
Brucie.
Separately you mention BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) looking “a little bit toppy.” Several of us have recently posted how the share price is now well above previous peaks, including me and george54 yesterday.
Hope this has helped.
Ken
VietNam Holding Limited ("VNH" or the "Company")
Monthly Investor Report
A report detailing the activities of the Company for the month of December 2025 has been issued by Dynam Capital Limited, the investment manager of the Company. Electronic copies of the report have been made available to shareholders on theCompany's website and a summary of the report is included below.
Manager Commentary: On the up (The Stone Roses)
Vietnam ended 2025 on the right track. For a start, it achieved its 8% GDP growth target for the year - the highest rate in Southeast Asia, well ahead of estimations for Indonesia (4.9%), Thailand (2.4%), the Philippines (6.1%) and indeed the US (2.5%) and China (5%). Vietnam's outperformance was particularly notable given the trade-war uncertainties that emerged earlier in the year, when Trump threatened tariffs across the world, including a 46% tariff on Vietnamese goods in April. Vietnam's successful negotiation of this (down to 20% by July), combined with continued strong FDI inflows and manufacturing momentum (trade surplus of US$20bn), demonstrated the country's policy agility and economic resilience in today's volatile global environment. Now, Vietnam's government has set an ambitious 10% growth target for 2026. If its macro stats for December say anything, Vietnam continues to move in that direction: with its PMI at 53 - ahead of most developed and emerging markets globally - exports up 17% for the year, and FDI reaching a five-year high of US$27.6bn. December also reflected how the country's administration reform is setting a solid foundation, with clear results in stronger public investment (hitting US$30.5bn, 83.7% of target) and accelerated infrastructure development.
Vietnam's equity market told a more nuanced story in December. The VN-Index ended the year near all-time highs, but returns were anything but evenly distributed. A handful of mega-caps captured most of the month's gains while many quality, mid-sized companies saw their shares consolidate despite sound business fundamentals. For VNH, this translated to a 1.6% NAV gain, with performance shaped more by a market increasingly divided between the very largest names and the rest of the market. Within VNH's holdings, Vinhomes (VHM) led the way with a 20.9% surge, driven by announcements of major residential project launches. Mobile World (MWG) gained 11%, demonstrating the ongoing strength of Vietnam's consumer sector as retail sales rebounded to 9.8% growth in December following November's weather-related disruption. Banking positions also contributed positively. MB Bank rose 9.1%, showing the sector's strong performance following 19% credit growth across the system in 2025.
December also highlighted the challenges of navigating a market where performance became increasingly concentrated in the very largest names. Vingroup (VIC) - not a portfolio holding - rose 30.3% in December, and given its substantial index weight, this single stock accounted for a disproportionate share of headline returns. VNH has maintained a measured view on VIC, prioritising other companies with clearer earnings visibility and more attractive valuations. While this positioning weighed on relative performance in December, it reflects the Fund's discipline around sustainable, risk-adjusted returns rather than short-term index tracking. Our top holdings offer scale, competitive advantages, and solid balance sheets. The portfolio trades at 9.5x forward earnings with forecast earnings per share growth of 18%.
Looking ahead, Vietnam's macro picture for 2026 is already proving compelling. Manufacturing remains in expansion mode and inflation continues to be relatively under control at 3.3%. These aren't cherry-picked numbers - they're the fundamentals of an economy firing on multiple cylinders. Additionally, underlying market earnings growth will remain the key driver of Vietnam's equity performance. To meet the 10% growth target for 2026, Vietnam will need to shift gears from cost-competitive manufacturing toward higher-value, innovation-driven sectors. Credit growth is expected to moderate to 15% (still robust), the property sector should broaden beyond mega-caps, and the FTSE reclassification on September 21, 2026 will bring fresh capital flows and better market infrastructure. But what matters most is Vietnam's ongoing transformation: deeper capital markets, enhanced governance, rising domestic consumption, and a manufacturing base that's proven remarkably resilient considering the global geopolitical uncertainties that have become the norm. VNH remains positioned for Vietnam's structural growth while maintaining discipline around valuations and liquidity - factors that matter over full market cycles, not just single months. After a year of exceptional economic growth, navigating trade policy uncertainties with notable agility, and setting the stage for an even more ambitious 2026, Vietnam's playlist looks even stronger for the road ahead.
For more information please contact:
Dynam Capital Limited
Craig Martin Tel: +84 28 3827 7590
Thanks, Ken. I feel like I haven't been paying close enough attention. But now I have.
Appreciated. I can see the case for Vietnam - if the vehicle you buy contains the shares that go up!
Trouble is, so many shares out there! You can only hold so many.
I did buy some Vodafone (LON:VOD) though. With partial sale of my BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) .
There are only 3 trusts plus the index fund. Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) , VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) and VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) . I would o for the ETF and VNH, the smaller of the trusts and has done well despite last years underperformance of the index. Craig Martin, of the managers, is very responsive if you email him.
I have sold BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) and Invesco Physical Markets (LON:SLVP) . As Ken and George said below I have done well with them and happy to leave some on the table for some-one else. I have bought more Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) with some of the proceeds- the board seem pretty confident that things were going well in todays Trading Update. I bought originally when it floated and have been in and out a couple of times over the years. Sitting on the rest while see commentary over the next few days re Trump's flip-flopping.
Charles, yes I like Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) and hold on my own account as well for my son. Good update today. I have also just decided to replace my holding in MJ GLEESON (LON:GLE) with a new holding in Grainger (LON:GRI) , which seems to have developed a niche in buying to rent, which might prove easier than building to sell? Its last statement seemed very positive, and it appears to be a net beneficiary of the exodus from private renting market. I now appear to have a lot of REITs/property companies in the Bruciefolio, including most of the usual suspects except the excellent Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU) ,which I do nevertheless hold for third parties. Some shares it never pays to sell!
As the gains continue it’s perhaps worth noting that both CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) at 415p and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) at 970p are now well above previous peaks with both up around 120% just since April And CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) has now gone to a premium. . Question is……....are both at or very near their peak?
Ken, looks wrong now but BlackRock was one of my top slicers at £9-20 as the share has doubled this year and the divi at this price isn’t special. Probably a mistake and looks like it at today’s price but as you say the stock is well above its previous peak. Dunno we will see, but strange opportunist times. Who knows where this will end “but” end it will at some point. Impossible to predict the markets or sector bubbles but sell high and buy low is the name of the game that’s made us both a lot of money over the years
T
I am very nervous about the markets currently, trade wars could easily escalate and I don't think there will be a calm moment until this orange toddler's time is up. I have therefore been taking some profits off the table but was considering putting some money into BH Macro (LON:BHMG) as it tends to do well when the market is volatile.
I held BHMG for about 18 months- did nothing and sold at a small loss. I was very disappointed with it. Not really done anything since 2012-end 22. I hope it works for you.
BH Macro (LON:BHMG) 10 year performance is 102%, which surprised me as better than would expect given it has gone no-where for a while (and doesn't pay divi). Could be a very useful insurance policy in event of market turbulence.
Chinese small & mid cap have left the large cap behind recently (Xtrackers CSI500 Swap UCITS - 1C ETF (LON:XCSI) vs (Xtrackers CSI300 Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XCHA)
Chrysalis Investments (LON:CHRY) ( I hold bought at £1.19) tThe share price continues to slide, I assume in part because Klarna (NYQ:KLAR) has fallen from a peak of $52 to $27. CHRY cannot sell post IPO until March 2026. Wall street analysts however have a target price of $46 and Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (PCQ:ARKF) has been consistently buying stock as the price falls. Some of the decline in Chrys NAV has been offset by the increased valuation of starling bank which is expected to IPO later this year. I will be buying more nearer March when it will be clearer what the KLAR share price is doing- when CHRSY sell some and it is expected at the CHRYS March AGM shareholders will be told how much capital is to be returned to them. CHRYS is currently engaged in share buy backs. Currently the company is in a 3 year realisation period and hopefully AVI Global Trust (LON:AGT) who own 8% will be keeping pressure on for the asserts to be realised and the discount narrowed.
I've profitably bought and sold Chrysalis Investments (LON:CHRY) a couple of times (currently out). In my experience it's quite volatile and will move down sharply when the general market gets wobbly as at the moment.
I'm generally feeling a bit nervous about the market at the moment and have top-sliced / sold some of the shares / ITs that have seen rapid gains in the last few months. 20% cash at present, makes me comfortable to keep the remaining 80% on the table.
Sounds good, I am just useless at market timing. Keep thinking of exiting metals but price keeps going up.
Literacy Capital (LON:BOOK) nice little disposal of Tyrefix this morning at 59% premium to September 2025 NAV. This was one of the smaller holdings, but has added around 9p to NAV as far as I can tell. Results in the trust being net cash position in February.
On a 22% discount at present, and one that I like together with Oakley Capital Investments (LON:OCI) and HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT)
They have made several profitable disposals recently. I hold along with OCI, HGT, Patria Private Equity Trust (LON:PPET) NB Private Equity Partners (LON:NBPE) Molten Ventures (LON:GROW) and Chrysalis Investments (LON:CHRY) . As below 8% of our portfolios is in PE and am looking to increase to 10%.
Comment on BOOK https://citywire.com/investmen...
Thanks for the replies and good wishes.
As for buying the likes of CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) or BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) now, is it perhaps getting near to the peak? We can’t know until after the event, but they were fabulous and surely much better buys ahead of the huge gains.
I tend not to sell out of big winners until there’s bad news or clear signs of a (perhaps large) pullback. Run our winners and cut our losers is my preferred tactic. It’s SO SO annoying to sell too soon for no good reason and see big gains continue.
For health reasons I’ve got a largely “leave alone” very big dividend paying portfolio. My “buy after big falls tactic, maximises dividend yield. It was incredible that quality shares like Aviva (LON:AV.) M&G (LON:MNG) and Phoenix group (LON:PHNX) and several others I hold and a few of my Investment Trusts were paying those double digit dividends and promising increases, and the yields were so high, simply because their share prices were so ridiculously cheap!
The only changes I make to my high yield portfolio are the occasional sell on bad news followed by a replacement buy.
Vietnam remains imo a must to include in a portfolio. Question is which of the 3 Trusts or non Investments Trust alternatives? My first choice now would be Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL). Probably 2 more tender offers to come with, if the stubborn discount refuses to narrow, the chance (as Charles explained in his reply) to tender 10%+ at current share price and pocket the small profit with the tender price significantly higher. Also Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) was the best performer of the 3 Trusts last year. I hold all 3 Vietnam Trusts.
Yes very pleased you are a lot better Ken, fwiw I’ve topsliced several holdings, mainly growth companies and have increased my cash balance to over 30% again. Who knows but wouldn’t surprise me if a market correction is around the corner. Don’t intend scaremongering and arguably shouldn’t try to predict the market and if I’m wrong so be it, still made nice gains. As always though I’ve gone with my gut feeling and after a fantastic 12 months or so don’t like giving hard earnt gains back. In the current climate I’m happy to have a sleep at night portfolio with the ammunition to go again “if” and when the markets do come off.
Hi George54
Before circumstances meant switching from similar investment tactics to yours to a big dividend paying leave alone portfolio I too would now be top slicing profits to raise plenty of cash ready to reinvest at bargain prices, in due course. It’s a tactic that has paid off in spades. But if I were to top slice now it would mean reducing the portfolio dividend yield, so it’s a non starter.
Inevitably the portfolio value will fall substantially in a bear market, but then (assuming I’ve chosen my Investment Trusts and big shares wisely and I’m confident that overall I have) the value of the portfolio will increase again as Markets recover.
A useful guide for this approach is the Virtual Investment Trust portfolio here, which has ridden out big falls and then recovered. It’s currently up nearly 150%. I’m assuming a big dividend paying portfolio should hold its own better than the Virtual Portfolio during the big market falls but gain less during market recovery.
Ditto Ken
I'm largely into the similar basket of shares as yourself. In the past I tried to time the markets and managed only one such occasion to my advantage. I've felt the market was wobbly for the lat couple of years - but here we are at record highs. If I'd sold on previous whims I'd of lost all the gains and the divis. Even now, its possible some of my holdings might rise another 5, 10, 15% or so from here before a correction - so a, say, 30% correction wouldn't be occuring from the prices today - it could be occuring from higher prices - thus reducing the impact. Also, I would of course have forgone all the lovely divis - and they certtainly help to reduce the impacct of any forthcoming correction. Perhaps its just an age thing but with a portfolio of 'solid' investments I am, at last, a believer of time in the market rather than timing the market.
Totally understand your present scenario Ken, I also own many of the dividend shares you hold but still have an affinity for my historic and profitable hunting ground in growth shares. One example is Hollywood Bowl where I’m hoping and expecting a positive trading statement on Thursday, I reckon the share is way undervalued due to imo unfounded worries of lack lustre trading due to the hot summer. I bought at the mid summer low following the scare. Reminds me of Ten Entertainment whose share price got slaughtered cos of covid, was an absolute bargain and then as a huge bonus got taken out so ended up a big winner. Let’s see what happens to the Hollywood Bowl share price this week with the trading statement, hope I don’t end up with egg on my face
George54, I couldn’t see any update from Hollywood Bowl (LON:BOWL) alongside their AGM today unfortunately, but has gone ex div today (and dropped by more than the 9p). Did I miss anything?
Hi OldSchool5, you are right there was no mention of the December/Xmas trading with the published AGM resolutions and it was concerning to see the price fall by 14.5p today despite as you say going x div for only just over 9p. I expected an update at the AGM as did the weekly update thread which indicated a trading statement today. I tried contacting the company this afternoon and was unable to get through but will be making further inquiries tomorrow.
I have now added Artemis SmartGARP(BW9HL13 and Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) . I use Snowball analytics which is useful- though not always a great user experience due to the connector with AJ Bell to be fair to them- my exposure is now around 12% to Emerging Markets, 14% in REIT's- some of that is in wind ups like Palace Capital (LON:PCA) and Life Science Reit (LON:LABS) and 8% in Private equity funds. Gold, Silver and copper is 6%, Healthcare 4%. 9% in Global funds- which includes Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) . I am still planning to increase EM to 20% and PE to 15%. No new funds at the moment so need to sell things. I did get rid of Fevertree Drinks (LON:FEVR) -held it for a few years, sold at a loss. Poor investment, product is good but it is now pricey- bought one of their tiny cans of ginger beer- madness. Ferriman's is finer, a proper Ginger beer.-in my opinion. Sold TBC Bank (LON:TBCG) -I keep flirting with Georgia- but will not again, another loss. Young & Cos Brewery (LON:YNGA) I am holding , despite the loss, as the other's like Fuller Smith & Turner (LON:FSTA) and Marstons (LON:MARS) are doing OK.
I have some Gilts maturing in Sept 26 outside a cash wrapper- low coupon to take the free CG and some cash isa's maturing by April.
So over time my portfolio will be funds and etf/c's. Buying individual stocks will become rare for me. Market movements are just too hard to predict and this endless disclosure of may or may not hit forecasts is strange given the world I grew up in back in the market of the 1970'80'. I will monitor and buy the odd one, but only company I can really understand.
Have never owned Fevertree Drinks (LON:FEVR) shares, but always liked the ginger beer. However when I was in Tesco the other day I noticed that at full price, the per litre price is now nearly £5.00 a litre, which is ridiculous for something that is basically flavoured carbonated water!
My portfolio approach is an 80% core of ITs, funds and ETFs and then a 20% satellite of around 20 to 25 individual company shares, almost all UK as I just find that easier to follow and understand and keeping it at a max of 20% of overall holdings means the occasional disaster doesn't do too much damage! I wouldn't rule out going almost entirely funds at some stage as you are or plan to do, less time consuming monitoring multiple single company results and letting someone else decide what shares to buy and sell and when. I am also a lot more comfortable averaging down the buy price of a fund by buying more when it goes down a lot, than I am doing so with individual shares with the latter having a much higher risk of it all going badly wrong..
Duveteux, I am still 30% in stocks, some have done well for us over the years. But I will be moving to get that down to 20% or less. There are other issues re tax wrappers so using short term low coupon gilts as well. The ginger price has indeed gone very high ..
Interesting article in the Guardian about energy prices in the US. I think this is relevant to SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (LON:SEIT) and reinforces my optimistic opinion and supports my intention to continue to hold / add.
https://www.theguardian.com/us...
Citywire report that 70% of shareholders applied to the tender for 10%. I wonder how many of those were tendering with a view/or had bought back to play the discount. I have done that in the past with another Trust- got NAV but bought back again at a 10% discount !! https://citywire.com/investmen...
Out of Hospital at last after Emergency admission on Christmas Day!!!! Sepsis again the key reason but not the only one. Sepsis threat hopefully under control for now.
Now getting up to speed on Investment Trusts.
Initial findings very good……but with one glaring exception.
Huge gains for BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) with both up over 120% since topping up last April and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) up 400% since purchase, excluding dividends and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) up 160% again excluding dividends and Blackrock Energy and Resources Income Trust (LON:BERI) up 263%. All Overbought????
My REITS continue dead for now…..but Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) up 54% excluding dividends and Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU) 47%. Their renewed day will surely come? We’re still waiting for that Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) bid.
Amedeo Air Four Plus (LON:AA4) a roaring success. Dividend of 23% has paid for my stake and share price is up 48% on top.
My worst performing Trust is Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) at break even, but excluding 10% dividend. My worst performing share is Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.) down 5%. TP Icap (LON:TCAP) is a stand out share, up 150% excluding big double digit dividend at my buy price. Another stand out is Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS) up 250% and benefiting from my key tactic of buying, as with Investment Trusts, after big falls.
So overall I’m very happy with my largely “leave alone” portfolio, but with one glaring exception. That’s Vietnam.
Perhaps Charles can explain, or ask his contact(s) at VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) to explain???
I called Vietnam correctly being convinced about the plus case for Vietnam. The Vietnam index is up nearly 80% since the April lows last year……….yet all 3 Trusts have woefully underperformed and VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) and VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) are flat over 1 year. Presumably none of them hold key winning Vietnam Companies in their portfolios?
Overall. though seeing evidence in posts here of declining interest in Investment Trusts, my enthusiasm for them is undiminished. Even my boring stalwarts like City Of London Investment Trust (LON:CTY) have gone up a lot……and doesn’t a portfolio stuffed full of Investment Trusts with not one of them losing, speak for itself?
Nice to have you back with us. I see no lack of interest in ITs. Though possibly, if punters are anything like me, they trade them less them actual shares and so just keep hold of the ones they hold! However, I am actively thinking of getting back into CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) by sellign my Diversified Energy Co (LON:DEC) Am I too late?
;)
Ken, Glad your better. It was, according to VNH, they did not have one holding- " The underperformance when compared against the index is largely attributable to a stock we don't own on fundamental grounds - Vingroup (VIN) - gaining 600 percent during the year.
We hope to do better next year, and that our focussed active management will reap more visible rewards in the New Year."
Hi Ken - pleased to hear you are out of hospital and your PF has done well - often the desire to tinker and watch too closely leads to some missed opportunities - its nice when you can come back from a break and find things have grown without the need for constant watering & checking.
I don't think there is any less desire for IT's (and funds/UT's). I for one have continued to put any spare cash from sales into collectives with only the minor foray into single companies.
Whilst I obviously sold out too early on BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) Invesco Physical Markets (LON:SLVP) and Golden Prospect Precious Metals (LON:GPM) I don't regret the move as the gains have been very nice.
I am not sure whether to chase the copper story some more - I also still retain holdings in some Canadian miners, a small rump of Golden Prospect Precious Metals (LON:GPM) Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) Jubilee Metals (LON:JLP) along with exposure to Uranium through Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) which will hopefully mean that whilst I have largely reduced commodity holdings I still have some exposure.
I have been focussing on topping up my UK holdings with small drip-feeds into current holdings - plus today I bought some Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) for one of my duaghters ISA following a sale of a useless smaller-co trust that had not been doing much for a few months - Jpmorgan Uk Small Cap Growth & Income (LON:JUGI.
EM's also look very strong currently, so some more focus there I think. I tend to avoid single country exposure, but may take another look at Vietnam.
Seems like things are taking a bit of a breather currently in the markets, but it's been a strong start to 2026 so far.
Best wishes. K
That's a relief Ken. Good to hear you are alive and kicking (as hard as ever!). Poor excuse for leaving the portfolio alone though :). It'll be taking literal NAPS at this rate.
Storming performances and hopefully gives you a little pleasure to see. Agree with Brucie's comment about trading though. I see these as longer term instruments and they give me a good level of diversification and risk reduction against my gambling (sorry, astute individual share investments).
Mistakenly got out of BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) last month only to see it top the league. Keen again on Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) as the discount seems to have opened up and the OakBloke did a nice write up on it. I like many of his selections for '26, see his substack, but find his literary style a little difficult to wade through at times. Between those and NAPS plenty to get our teeth into and make a decent return.
Another on my radar is Baker Steel Resources Trust (LON:BSRT) which seems to be making good progress on a deal which will free up a lot of cash. Decent discount to NAV too. See it bounced quite hard today....and I haven't pulled the trigger yet. C'est la Vie.
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) Looking ahead 2026 report released https://vinacapital.com/wp-con...
"In a little over three months, the Nikkei average has jumped more than 9,000 points, or about 20%. The index's overall price-earnings multiple (P/E ratio) has moved toward the 20 range. The forward P/E ratio for Taiwan's Taiex is above 18 while South Korea and Hong Kong, despite their massive stock market jumps in 2025, remain relatively cheap at around 10 to 11." From Nikkei Asia's article. Some suggesting valuations have peaked, though forecasts are for strong earnings growth. https://asia.nikkei.com/busine...
As you know I am keen on emerging markets. They have been on a good run recently- up 28% last year and 6% so far this year. The 5 year picture is not so good- 23.7 cumulative. So to play the momentum I am increasing over the next month or two my portfolio weighting to 20% . I already hold Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Trust (LON:AWEM) ,iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:EIMI) Blackrock Frontiers Investment Trust (LON:BRFI) plus Franklin FTSE Korea UCITS ETF (LON:FLRK) ,Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) and VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) . I am looking to buy Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) ,JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income (LON:JMGI) and a unit trust called Artemis SmartGARP(BW9HL13). Artemis Smart GARP is up 83% over 5 years. It is a quantitative fund that screens approximately 25000 stocks daily looking at Valuation, Growth, Estimate revisions, Momentum, Quality, Investor sentiment, Macro factors and ESG. These are scored 0-100 with top 10% considered for the fund's portfolioThis is then reviewed by the fund manager to confirm no hidden risks overlooked- a political event etc. Offers a different approach and whilst it might be slow to react to events a manager might see straight away and as an anti-herd tool will sell when a stock is popular and expensive- so could miss the "top" (as I do all the time" and buy unloved stocks which might take time to become more popular
I am going to increase the holding I have in iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF USD Acc (LON:EIMI)
Hi Charles,
I am thinking along similar lines, so thank you for posting the above. I see you mention JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income (LON:JMGI) ... and was wondering how you decided between that and the (on the surface at least) very similar JPMorgan Emerging Markets Dividend Income (LON:JEMI) ?
The JPMorgan will be a smaller investment- JMGI will offer hopefully more capital growth. but a yield of 4% paid out of reserves- so more like Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) but I am hoping not the same in term of NAV performance. JEMi has done better over 5 years, but hoping JMGI which is more growth orientated will pick up.
Welwichia- I have changed my mind on the JPM emerging market trusts. Given I have bought Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) I have decided JPMorgan Emerging Markets Dividend Income (LON:JEMI) would be more sensible as its portfolio has more defensive qualities-investing in companies that have on the whole good income and there fore dividend streams. JMGI would be another more aggressive purchase like FEML.
Thanks very much for the update Charles. I have not made a decision either way yet ... a bit of a puzzling situation having 2 offerings from the same stable with ostensibly a fair degree of overlap. One has to wonder if there will be some sort of corporate action in the future to combine these into a single vehicle? In that case in which direction would it go? Imponderables ...
Indeed. I am not sure why they would merge anytime soon. JMGI have only recently changed the policy to target the 4% retrun if if paid out of reserves .
Your mention of the Artemis SMART-GARP fund reminded me of my Smart-GARP holding in their European Fund - this smart-garp approach seems to have something in it, as its European return for 1,3 & 5 yrs is very good - 52%/107%/152% - an excellent performance I think.
I also had a look at their UK Smart-Garp fund and was quite intrigued by this as well - 40%/78%/144% for the 1/3/5yr returns - again an excellent return.
I need to do more research to understand what the process is and to understand their holdings.
I currently hold the European Smart-Garp fund - but only since mid-2025 and in small scale.
One for more research.
There is an explanation of the process on their website: SmartGARP® explained: The eight factors that drive returns.
I wonder if the large size of the UK fund may become an issue if/ when the screening process highlights more smaller companies? (Would they be able to buy big enough position sizes in order for them to be large enough as a percentage of the portfolio?) Or maybe they can always find enough qualifying investments in UK large and mid caps? Looks like they have a few European shares as well, Repsol, Banco Bilbao, Société Générale, NN Group...
Lots of financials (44.4% of portfolio) would have helped recent performance, with 6 of the top 10 holdings being financials (5 banks and Aviva).
Half year report shows the full list of holdings at the time, these are the financials sector holdings:
I did a quick comparison of the main five Artemis Smart-Garp funds; European, UK, EM, Global & Global Smaller Co's. Here is the 3 year performance chart;
Next step would be to do an analysis of the holdings and a comparison across sector peers. Interestingly the European & UK funds have the best performance over 3 & 5 years. Global Sm-Co's looks nothing special, but I've not done a peer comparison yet - and interestingly its top 10 are; Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, TSMC, Meta, Std-Chartered, Tencent, Ryanair, Trip.Com & American Express - hardly what I would call smaller companies??
I already hold the European Fund and will now do a bit more investigation on the others.
The Global Smaller Companies fund was a global large cap fund called Artemis Global Select which changed mandate, manager and name in October 2025, so ignore previous performance and any out of date top 10 holdings:
Artemis plans SmartGARP global small-cap fund.
The most recent top 10 from the Artemis website and factsheet:
Thanks Duveteux - useful to know and explains a lot. I hadn't gone on to the Artemis site yet, but obviously now begs the question as to what performance might be like moving forward.
It will be interesting to compare against things like Smithson Investment Trust (LON:SSON) (soon to be a unit trust I believe) and other global Sm Co trusts/funds.
Anyone have any insights on Fair Oaks Income (LON:FAIR) ? Bad news: it's small and in USD, which Trump may yet weaken. Good news: at this price it's trading @ about 5% discount to NAV and nearly 17% yield. Nothing guaranteed, but that has been consistent. And they are buying back shares, and a director has just bought some.
If you know them, please remind me of the difference between Fair Oaks Income (LON:FAIR) and Fair Oaks Income (LON:FA17) .
Tempted, even though I already have others in this sector (which have been very reliable so far)...
It has been a while since I looked into it, but there was a restructuring of the funds in 2017 with FAIR being the new master fund and FA17 the old closed one. There was quite alot of information in 2017 regarding how this was organised on their site.
https://www.fairoaksincome.com...
Short interview with the manager of Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) investment trust on the Fidelity UK YouTube channel here.
Although it's not mentioned in the video, it may come as a surprise to some that his UK equity investment trust has managed to slightly outperform a US S&P 500 index tracker over the past 5 years (as well as over 3 years and 1 year - different story over 10 years though). Although another UK equity investment trust did even better than that over the past 5 years: Temple Bar Investment Trust (LON:TMPL) with a total return of 140%. Over the past year FSV is up 40% and TMPL by 44%.
I bought Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) for my wife's isa a few years ago and happy with its performance. The sort of trust I feel you can buy and just tuck away.
Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) sits on the top of my UK list for buying whenever we have a pullback - I am trying not to buy too much currently and to keep some powder dry for any pull-back, but I am not sure when/if that will come.
Temple Bar Investment Trust (LON:TMPL) is a painful lesson for me in selling out through boredom - which I did at precisely the wrong moment - Jan 24. Since when it has gone up by around 60% I think.
I still haven't come to any conclusion on my Unit-Trust which I hold for UK exposure (Brickwood UK Value) - it only launched in Feb-25, and to date has done OK (20%) although significantly less than FSV (33%) and TMPL (29%).
I don't like simply swapping and chasing based on short-term ism, but at some point I would like to see Brickwood catch up or may have to make a call - part of my aversion is it sits across 5 different PF's and the downside of UT's is the time to sell, receive the cash and then reinvest.
Yeah, when to sell / switch is something I find quite difficult and getting bored with a fund/IT that goes nowhere for ages only for it to spring into life after you sell is something that probably happens to lots of people!
This happened to me with Fidelity Asian Values (LON:FAS) - I like their value / smaller cap tilt, but the shares went nowhere for years, so I sold at around break even (as the chart below shows they were the same price in April last year as they were in April 2021 - 4 years earlier and traded in a narrow range that whole time).
Fidelity Emerging Markets (LON:FEML) is another one that went nowhere for years - in fact it significantly underperformed vs other emerging markets investment trusts for quite a while (Fidelity took over the running of the trust from Genesis in October 2021) but has been the best performing emerging markets IT over the past year, up 66% - however, it only really started to go vertical after the tariff turmoil in April last year). This seemed to be an inflection point for most Emerging markets and Asia Pacific funds and ITs...
I agree with Charles that Fidelity Special Values (LON:FSV) has been a reliable long term UK trust to buy and hold and not worry too much about.
Investor Meet Company this coming week.
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) VIETNAM ENTERPRISE INVESTMENTS LIMITED
Investor Presentation
21st Jan 2026 at 10:30am GMT
Life Science Reit (LON:LABS) Saba increase holding to 13.322393%. I am still a holder.
Polar Capital Holdings (LON:POLR) having it's turn in the sun this morning while reporting net inflows. Looks like some of this was anticipated yesterday,, but coming hard on the heels of Ashmore (LON:ASHM) it might suggest that this is a sector with legs. I reopened a position in Liontrust Asset Management (LON:LIO) just over a week ago, which has so far proved fortuitous, though as many here will know, it's a rather undifferentiated provider of funds, whereas POLR and ASHM have more interesting, because specialised offerings. Nevertheless, Peel hunt has just placed a 400p target on it, FWIW. I would see City of London Investment (LON:CLIG) as an obvious next beneficiary of any sectoral rediscovery, particularly with its EM exposure.
I 2nd the sentiment for CLIG and am adding to my holding. They are busy buying larger positions in a host of Asian funds, including Japan direct. So if EMs are the place to be CLIG should be on a rise - I hope
City of London Investment (LON:CLIG) has been without a CEO since July 2025 when Tom Griffith left. Search underway ever since apparently… It should be a beneficiary of EM inflows but has not been too well managed in recent years. Dominant US shareholder who looks like pulls the strings from outside the Board these days
More Korean news- I hold Franklin FTSE Korea UCITS ETF (LON:FLRK) (bought 2/1/26 @ £40.41) "After a stellar 2025, optimism around Korean equities is carrying into 2026, driven by a powerful upswing in the corporate earnings cycle. A sharp rebound in memory semiconductors is set to propel South Korea to the world’s fastest earnings growth, outpacing the US, China and Japan. That momentum has already lifted the Kospi above 4,700 to record highs, sharpening focus on the long-discussed 5,000 mark.
With profits on Korea’s main exchange projected to surge more than 50% this year, the earnings story is firmly in Korea’s favour."
https://www.kedglobal.com/earn...
I took a view that despite the rise of the Korean market last year prospects looked good for this year. But a single country ETF does carry risk.
A lower risk approach fro exposure to Korea would be AVI Global Trust (LON:AGT) which has a 12% exposure.
Looks like the REITs are perking up a bit - Picton Property Income (LON:PCTN) effectively putting itself up for sale, Custodian Property Income Reit (LON:CREI) up 7.5% in the past month and near a 52 week high, new 52 week high for Tritax Big Box REIT (LON:BBOX) today, Londonmetric Property (LON:LMP) and Primary Health Properties (LON:PHP) now both trading close to their navs and 52 week highs. Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SREI) also close to a 52 week high at 58p, it was down at 47p just over 3 months ago...
Any bargains left in this sector?
Bargain REITs might include CLS Holdings (LON:CLI) Regional REIT (LON:RGL) Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SERE) , however each has a reason for the discount persisting so they are much higher risk than the likes of Primary Health Properties (LON:PHP) Supermarket Income REIT (LON:SUPR) etc
Thanks. I did have a look at Regional Reit a few weeks ago but couldn't really decide if it was a yes or no, will have another look and will also look at CLS (not familiar with that one at all).
SERE I have a small holding which is currently at a tiny loss (1 or 2%) having not really gone anywhere (but decent 8% dividend yield of course), but I do also have TR Property Investment Trust (LON:TRY) which is Europe + UK property, mainly fund of funds (other REITs) with a few direct holdings - prefer that for a wider range of property in Europe, although it hasn't been a great performer since I bought in 2023, it did return around 15% over the past year excluding the dividends (approx 5% yield) so has improved recently and seems to have a bit of momentum (price up 5.6% over the past month alone). Discount has stayed roughly the same over 1 year at -8%, so it appears to have been driven more by an increase in NAV (+18% in one year) than a narrowing discount...
I hold CLS Holdings (LON:CLI) at a 3% weighting of the Bruciefolio - so a full position. The value case is well rehearsed on the advfn board along with the debt,. which they seem to be making positive steps to address. The chart, if you're interested in such things, is particularly intriguing. From 59/60 level, it sits on the cusp of a break upwards and I'm inclined to think it will. As Duveteux suggests, there seems to be something of a following wind in this sector at the moment, presumably associated with falling interest rates and management efforts to address the very large discounts. Though CLS is a family company and not a REIT, so perhaps a slight sense of entitlement over what they want to do, when and how?
Decided to to top slice BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) this morning as surely can't keep rising at the rate it has been - particularly YTD. Inevitably like virtually every sell decision I make it has risen further since my sale! No doubt I will have exited way too early again much like my decisions on VanEck Gold Miners UCITS ETF USD A (LON:GDGB), VanEck Junior Gold Miners UCITS ETF USD A (LON:GJGB, Wisdomtree Metal Securities (LON:PHGP), Wisdomtree Metal Securities (LON:PHPT). All at solid profits and some holding in a couple retained but it could have been so much better - it seems I don't have the Midas (!!) touch with precious metals. However, surely this particular bubble must burst soon mustn't it?
I see that Ashmore (LON:ASHM) is reporting net in flows this morning along with outperformance of EMs. I hold this as a proxy for EMs across my folios, and it has been a challenge to keep faith with the idea. So it will be interesting to see what the day brings. May also be readover for City of London Investment (LON:CLIG) .
I hold as well Brucie after you mentioned it a few months ago. Thank you it has done OK and see a good gain this morning.
Glad for you both. Up 20% as I write. 3% weighting in the Bruciefolio, but now up 30%, not including dividends.
Well done Brucie - good rise I see. I too like the EM theme but I backed City of London Investment (LON:CLIG) - oh well, can't win them all
Anyone heard of this new entrant to the LSE? Dominic Frisbee has for a while been singing the praises of gold +bitcoin as a combined hedge. 21Shares Bytetree BOLD ETP (LON:BOLD) seems to be one such vehicle? Views, anyone?
I'd seen it around Oct-ish when Frisbee was on a podcast (MSW I think) and thought it looked interesting - monthly rebalancing using the supposed theory that gold & crypto dont move in sync.
However, when it was launched I asked HL if they were going to market it and they said baiscally "no-never". I therefore forgot all about it, but I'd like to see its performance and then have another go at HL with the threat of moving my accounts away if they don't start doing things to support us private investors (assuming it has a reasonable record, is liquid enough and is not some ponzi scheme).
DF was an early commentator on Bitcoin. Wonder how well he did!
"Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will tell leaders of her Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday that she intends to trigger a snap election, senior government and LDP officials said, as the country's first female premier seeks to capitalize on her high public support to restore the party's lower house majority". https://asia.nikkei.com/politi...
AVI Global Trust (LON:AGT) Latest newsletter https://newsfile.refinitiv.com... Chrysalis is largest position, increased holding in Samsung to 5% of AGT
Does anyone use a collective for oil - all I see/read says that its current low is an obvious time to buy with so much uncertainty around.
I already hold single stocks such as Serica Energy (LON:SQZ) Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) and Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS) (not a pure oil play).
Now deciding if there is a decent ETF or just to punt on Shell (LON:SHEL) and/or BP (LON:BP.)
Any thoughts?
For ETFs, iShares MSCI Europe Energy Sector UCITS ETF EUR A (LON:ESIE) is European oil and gas companies (nearly 50% of the ETF is BP and Shell, nearly 70% is those 2 + TotalEnergies) and iShares Oil & Gas Exploratn & Prod UCITS ETF USD A (LON:SPOG) and Invesco Energy S&P US Select Sector UCITS ETF Acc (LON:XLEP) are the US equivalents. (38% of the latter is Exxon and Chevron).
I don't hold any of these currently, although have in the past. Like you, I do have some Serica Energy (LON:SQZ)
I would say that VanEck Oil Services UCITS ETF USD A (LON:OIGB) has the best momentum, 50% covers Halliburton, Technipfmc, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes & Tenaris
I don't know of anything suitable but I did read an article in the Guardian on Venezuela impact on US shale industry, but touchs on global oil that may be of interest. https://www.theguardian.com/us...
Thank you to Duveteux and others - I shall take a look at them and make a call - am abroad at the moment so plenty of time for researching.
Would be good to hear what you decided on - it's a shame there are no investment trusts focused on energy (they cover pretty much every other sector you could think of). None of the ETFs give me exactly what I'm looking for and not really a fan of funds either, although I hear Guinness Global Energy is meant to be good. I might just buy some Shell and BP and leave it at that.
Blackrock Energy and Resources Income Trust (LON:BERI) has some exposure, although probably not what either of you are looking for, especially if you already have exposure to mining and renewable energy via other trusts/funds or direct holdings.
Back in the 1980's there were a couple of oil focussed ones - Viking Resources and North Sea assets. Did not perform that well and disappeared into something else which I forget. Fund managers were Ivory and Sime which struggled in the 80's and became and F&C Asset management . There are some of the infrastructure structure involved in energy like solar, wind etc. See the AIC category here https://www.theaic.co.uk/aic/f...
"Google will start developing and manufacturing high-end smartphones in Vietnam this year from scratch in a move similar to what Apple has planned for India as the American companies move a step closer to having complete supply chains outside of China, Nikkei Asia has learned." https://asia.nikkei.com/spotli...
I hold a Korea ETF, article in todays Korean Daily about market reforms to try and get MSCI developed market status.
I became a bit "scared" of the super-performance last year so decided to stick with a more collective approach across EM's, although on further research it appeared most of the collectives I had previously flagged as holding Korean stocks seemed to have ditched them and were now holding zero %.
I've therefore decided currently to just stick with my Redwheel EM UT for the moment - and added a bit more.
Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) Link to an interview with Tim Levene, manager of AUGM https://www.fnlondon.com/artic...
Saba have increased holding in SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (LON:SEIT) to 11.06%- announced today.
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) Latest Vietnam Macroeconomic Commentary: December 2025 https://vinacapital.com/wp-con...
Key points GDP increased to 8% in 2025 from 7.1% in 2024.US Tariff rated drifting down towards 10%. Exports increased by 17%. (14% 2024)
Investor Meet Company this coming week.
CT UK High Income Trust (LON:CHIB) CT UK HIGH INCOME TRUST PLC
Summary of 2025 and outlook for 2026
15th Jan 2026 at 10:00am GMT
Edison note on Regional REIT (LON:RGL) and International Public Partnerships (LON:INPP) https://www.edisongroup.com/re...
I hold both.
Vietnam reports 8.02% GDP growth in 2025. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/b...Targets 10% by 2040 to become high income nation https://vietnamnet.vn/en/vietn...
I bought today Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) at 3137p.
I have Ken to thank when he highlighted in December that it might be an opportunity and reopened a position in Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) - so thanks to a great thread and good posters.
I opened a position in iShares Global Timber & Forestry UCITS ETF USD D (LON:WOOD) recently, although in your bottom 5 ETFs in 2025, it has some short term momentum.
One of my holdings that I haven't seen any discussion elsewhere is Wisdomtree Commodity Securities (LON:CARB)- an ETC for carbon credits, decent momentum for the time being.
Thanks for the CARB mention will have a look. Topped up VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) today as well today. Done well for me over the years.
Molten Ventures (LON:GROW) (I hold-been buying form £3.27 to £4.84 over 6 months) . Latest report link. Not the holding in ICEYE- the driver of Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) . Grow's holding is much smaller, 6% after the last revaluation. Maybe a less exposed way to play that ICEYE story. They also hold in the Space sector-Isar Aerospace, SatVu and Focal positioning. Total space exposure is about 10.9%.
https://mailchi.mp/molten.vc/p...
I've been buying (LON:UTG) , v bullish on this for number of reasons:
The US has decimated foreign student interest with draconian immigration policies, this demand will be diverted elsewhere to other Anglophone countries - the UK being the obvious next in line. Enrolment from Chinese (richest group) students in the UK has already increased significantly. Labour govt policy to restrict older students bringing dependents will mostly affect those coming from poorer countries enrolling in low quality and low fee Unis who are primarily using the student visa as backdoor to the UK's grey labour market - gig economy work such as Uber and food delivery - this demographic is not a major customer group for UTG. The new fee for international students is low relative to their total cost (£50-60k p.a. at Russell group Unis) so shouldn't put them off.
The major bullish factor for student housing REITs is the state of the private rental market. Smaller landlords are exiting in droves thanks to high interest rates, tax changes and onerous regulation and legal changes. But the big killer for privately rented student housing is the article 4 planning change; new HMOs in most areas now require planning permission which is unlikely to be granted where there is high demand for family housing. With a shortage of HMOs, students would now have to rent a 2 bed flat to share with only 1 other, since 3 or more unrelated occupants is an HMO. This makes purpose built student housing a more cost effective and convenient alternative. The other advantage compared with other REITs is the ability to increase rents annually in line with the market as opposed to waiting for indexed 5 yr reviews often with a cap in the case of many commercial properties. UTG divi cover is 1.3 so they are also self financing their development pipeline and entering JVs with Unis to avoid land purchase costs.
I like and hold other REITs (LON:LMP) , (LON:PHP) , (LON:SUPR) as I think their cashflow yields are attractive, offer significant inflation protection and astoundingly tax efficient if held in ISA/SIPP. My view is that moderately elevated long term inflation is the only realistic way the govt will "repay" their debt.
Thanks Jisoo- interesting piece. FYI Stocko has changed the way to show stocks- so if you type an @ a box will come up to find the stock. So like this UTG (PNK:UTGN)
Thanks for this. I agree with your analysis though I don't currently hold Unite (LON:UTG) . Will investigate. Grainger (LON:GRI) may also be beneficiary of private landlord exodus.
Someone asked me my thoughts about Duke Capital (LON:DUKE) , which I hold across more than one folio and I was unable to answer with any degree of expertise, pleading my default excuse of "strategic ignorance" not so much of what my shares do for a living - because I know more or less that much- but how exactly they turn it into a good one. So for that reason I read the usual sources, including the much maligned IC, where among the things that I normally pass over (life's too short!) I see coverage of shares that I actually hold - or ones that are on my watchlist. So happens that Duke was covered in the recent edition here by Simon Thompson.
Lock in this double-digit dividend yield - Investors' Chronicle
I don't think there's anything new to me here, but it is reassuring to know that a share price that seems to go nowhere particularly can still be a decent investment if it's being properly run and accords with the objectives of your folio, which in my case, is for sustainable, high income, with some trading + growth at the edges.
In case it's of interest, my purchases this week have included a speculative bit of bottom fishing at Liontrust Asset Management (LON:LIO) and a more promising - from a chart perspective- first time purchase of Breedon (LON:BREE) , which sits at the starter end of any recovery in house building. The entire property market sits in the doldrums and I did briefly hold Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.) over last summer, before losing confidence in my idea. A shame, because at the £1 level where I bought it, plus the 9% dividend, I could be sitting on a 20% gain with further upside. Which goes to show that value investing, to work, has to be about four things at least: 1. getting the right price. 2. knowing what your reasonable expectations are, including the dividend to keep you patient. 3. having an idea of why you think the market has pushed it down too far and why they might well be wrong - on a probability of about 60:40. 4. Having the patience to sit out your decision until you see the fruits of it.
Finally, and forgive me if it sounds like teaching granny to suck eggs, having some shares in a soaraway sector (it was mining and commodities last year!) can make such a difference to performance. So for me that's part of the radar that has to be constantly at work, just in case you're missing something very obvious, simply because it's not in your assumed field of vision. So in that context I'm thinking that housebuilders just might offer something, particularly if you look at the chart at Breedon (LON:BREE) on any period view. Likewise, I'm very drawn to the idea at "Investor John", who had such runaway success last year might just be right to be overweight property and Reits this year. CLS Holdings (LON:CLI) offers a glimpse of chart with potential breakup/away possibilities, and is on a steep discount. I hold a full position, but wouldn't bet the house on it!
Go carefully.
Thanks Brucie5. I hold all the stocks you mention except Breedon (LON:BREE), but will also look at that one. Agree completely about being conscious of your 'assumed field of vision', have to keep reminding myself to look outside of that too (without being too scattergun at the same time!).
Sorry - I meant MJ GLEESON (LON:GLE) not Breedon (LON:BREE) ! Good job I'm not a tipster!
Good rise on Herald IT today looks like SABA doing us some good
Thanks for your comtinued commentary, Charles. I have been very busy since the New Year and travelling, but hope to get back to analysis in a week or so. Meanwhile, I have recommended Newriver Reit (LON:NRR) and a 'sleep nights' new holding for grandchildren @ 72.5p limit. A low-risk option in a 'home' world for you to look at nzps. It feels a bit crazy out there, but leasing retail space to chains is looking pretty solid right now, and >9% yield likely.
Life Science Reit (LON:LABS) the board have announced a reduction in the NAV of 13%. As a holder I am disappointed given the comments around the strategic review, no bids received reflecting value and the wind up would get more for shareholders. Having my doubts now and might just bank my profit.
I sold up recently when my news feed showed that 2 of the directors had sold. This insider transaction has not been announced via RNS.
I am going to hang on after todays drop. Did some deeper research using AI and came up with this Hopefully 45p-49p will be the least favourable outcome. My main concern is the £150m due in June 2026. Hoping Saba keep an eye on things, but do not push top much and force sales at low prices. Saba would appear to be in at around 38.5p.
The Realisation Range (Estimated)
Analysts and market behavior suggest the eventual return will likely land in one of three scenarios:
I asked Gemini AI to make an estimate of the SSIT NAV for 1st Q 2026. I would be cautious making a buy or sell decision based on this. But if roughly correct SSIT will be at PAR which seems about right to me. As disclosed I sold out at £1.24p recently.
Good morning all - My wife has a SIPP and has a cautious investment philosophy, so I am looking for recommendations to study that will provide a good dividend and reasonable chance of growth with limited downside . I really like this group and its contributors so any ideas for me to look at would be much appreciated.
There will be many options here that people will suggest - all with pros and cons - so I am not suggesting in any way that these are suitable for you (you must decide yourself) but personally my lower risk pot is spread across three different funds - not investment trusts;
Argonaut Absolute Return Fund - hopefully a bit of downside protection
Orbis Global Managed - mix of bonds & global shares - this is a new one on me, but I liked its track record & recently invested into it
Finally a global bond fund - now soft closed, but there will be others as well of a similar nature - steady if unexciting returns - Man Dynamic Income
I think all of these will have income or accumulation units.
Others might suggest a lower risk income fund, money market funds, other types of bond funds etc etc.
Maybe something like GCP Infrastructure Investments (LON:GCP) - invests primarily in infrastructure debt, which offers defensive characteristics because the revenues are often backed by government-linked contracts or essential services, a 9% dividend yield and at a -27% discount to nav, some potential for capital growth as well, if that narrows? Majority of portfolio is focused on renewable energy, but also some ppp and social housing. Reinvest the divis and it could compound quite nicely?
Another one I like (and lower risk) is Primary Health Properties (LON:PHP) - but the price has recently come in towards nav, so not as appealing as it was a few months ago. One for putting a price alert on to buy on a dip maybe? (If it goes back down to 88p that's an over 8% yield - easy to remember 888... As the name suggests, owns a property portfolio of GP surgeries etc, main tenant is the NHS, so rents paid by government and should be relatively recession proof, compared to other REITS with retail outlets, offices, warehouses etc. Long leases, very high occupancy rate, mostly UK properties, but some in Ireland too. In FTSE 250. Dividend 'hero' (has increased dividend every year for past 25 years+). Recent acquisition of Assura has increased portfolio size and should result in cost savings/ efficiency.
These are both primarily income plays though - maybe you/she is looking for something with a more modest dividend but better growth potential? Staying on the infrastructure theme, 3i Infrastructure (LON:3IN) has potential for good total return (their own target return is 8 to 10% per year ) - so ticks the decent dividend plus growth potential boxes, but higher risk, with a more concentrated portfolio. Has had a nice, steady increase in nav over the past 5 years though:
Check out Real Estate Credit Investments (LON:RECI) , Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund (LON:SEQI) and GCP Infrastructure Investments (LON:GCP)
nzps, depends whether your looking to create a folio of shares or hold it all in one fund..? And are you likely to be active or passive? ETFs can also have a role to play for many, who just want the exposure to markets without the hassle of managing shares. I enjoy the interest and challenge of investing, so that is implicitly my first decision. But a SIPP is obviously a serious undertaking if it's what your wife may one day depend on in older age.
I agree with Burcie5, how active do you/your wife want to be ongoing in the SIPP investments?
Apologies if this is all a bit too basic for you but I don't know where you are on your own investment journey.
Also I would consider what "cautious actually looks like for both of you. For example could you comfortably deal with a drop in value of 5/10/25/50% or could you not bare the worry of losing any money on paper?
If you do suffer a loss how comfortable would you be if it took 1/3/5 years to recover?
Are you both ok owning and learning from investment mistakes, if not you could be in for an uncomfortable ride.
You mentioned wanting dividends, is the SIPP in or near drawdown? If not I would focus on total return rather than a good dividend.
Consider how big her SIPP is and how long until she wants to access it. If it's very large and she's nearly accessing it, the answers could be totally different to a fairly small value that has decades to grow and absorb the general ups and downs of investing
Above all I would have a long (and ongoing) discussion with her about the above so you both get comfortable with whatever strategy you finally do. You may find you discover what the ideal areas for you to invest in come from those discussions.
Only then get into the what to invest in decision.
Hi NZPS, a global equity ETF you might consider for your wife's SIPP is VanEck Morningstar Developed Markets Dividend Leaders UCITS ETF (ticker TDGB). It has a modest dividend yield of 3.5% at present but its total return (including capital growth) over 5 years has been good at about + 120%. A disadvantage of TDGB is it pays its dividends in Euros, so your wife's SIPP provider would have to convert the Euros to Pounds which would incur some foreign exchange fees.
Another equity ETF you might consider which invests solely in UK stocks is iShares UK Dividend UCITS ETF (ticker IUKD). This has a dividend yield of 4.8% at present and a total return over 5 years of +81% and it pays its dividends in Pounds.
As both these ETFs invest in equities, they have a reasonable chance of growth but they could lose a significant amount of capital value in a crash or bear market (although probably less than more growth-focused equity ETFs).
My wife is cautious as well (along with being a hands off type person on investments) and that held me back in pressing buttons in the past. One factor to take into account is how many years to retirement as (obviously) more risk can reasonably be taken over a 30 / 40 year period than a 5 or 10 year period.
A financial advisor would probably warn that a long period in cash like investments would be a loosing strategy.
All that aside there are the usual suspects such as: Ruffler, RIT, and from Google AI - although property trusts have shown a tenancy to be more volatile in recent years than in the good old days so a safe/cautious Ruffler type vehicle may be more to her liking.
Safe investment trusts generally focus on diversification, reliable income, or stable assets, with examples often cited including Personal Assets Trust (PNL), Capital Gearing Trust (CGT), and Alliance Witan (ALW) for balanced portfolios, plus trusts like City of London (CTY) or JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) for broad equity exposure and income, while trusts focused on infrastructure (like International Public Partnerships (INPP)) or specific defensive sectors are also considered relatively safer choices for income/stability.
+ given that investment trusts discounts can be a problem when the UK market goes out of favour / into a downturn (hence a double whammy), it would probably be sensible to marry with some ETF's.
+ Despite all that Id say it would be sensible to have some exposure to a Worldwide fund - Alliance Witan was mentioned above & AVI Global Trust + Ranmore Global Equity was mentioned last month I think. Put a slice in gold as well if you want to act as a safety net if/when markets turn.
> Incidentally (not aimed at wives!) when you read the above - all the talk about wealth managers not liking investment trusts because of fees (which is probably true) - they never mention the discount angle. Im not an IFA but if I were I would be aware that if you recommended a Investment Trust that does well you might get some thanks if you are lucky .....but if you recommend one that does badly then you might have a FCA complaint and an angry client.... why take the risk, easier to recommend a ETF or unit trust !
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) Latest Space newsletter from SSIT https://newsfile.refinitiv.com...
Global Opportunities Trust (LON:GOT) Citywire states they are moving from self - managed to using Juniper. https://citywire.com/investmen... I hold GOT am going to have to have a look at this- talk of using derivatives etc slightly concerns me. And i wonder if they will increase PE holdings. I bought at £3.08 June 25 and £3.30 in Oct 25 as a defensive addition. It has not performed that well over 5 years- plus 36.3% - and I bought it as safe but dull with a yield of 2.9%. I am talking myself into selling it as I type and invest in something more interesting like the Asian sector. Markets are closed luckily so will sleep on it . Juniper seem to be an administrative firm overlooking compliance. The sub-contracted manager Goodhart are "
Pretty sure I know what I will be doing tomorrow.
I have sold my holding in Hammerson (LON:HMSO) which was up 40% since April 2025 and bought back into Phoenix Spree Deutschland (LON:PSDL) at £1.71p. Planning to hold this for 5 years whilst they liquidate the portfolio in Berlin. As long as nothing changes in the Berlin housing market- I got spooked in mid 2024 and sold out at £1.57p. Reasons are based on this AI research.
This 5-year model (2026–2030) projects the total return for Phoenix Spree Deutschland (PSDL) based on the "Managed Realisation" strategy confirmed in late 2025.
The strategy hinges on one key arbitrage: buying Berlin assets at a 40% discount (the share price) and having them bought back by the company at full value (the NAV) using cash from apartment sales.
1. The "April 2026" Baseline
Assumption: PSDL maintains a steady sales pace of €55m/year (the 2026 target) and returns €18.3m (1/3rd) annually to shareholders.
Note: The percentage of shares redeemed increases each year because the total number of shares in issue shrinks, making each Euro of returned cash "heavier" for the remaining holders.
3. Total Return Analysis
After 5 years of this steady realization, your investment looks like this:
Estimated Total Return
Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) Pitchbook (Morningstar) https://global.morningstar.com... seem to think there is a 97% chance Zopa will IPO this year. Maybe some good news for AUGM will be forthcoming. Pitchbook 2026 can be downloaded here. https://pitchbook.com/news/rep...
Literacy Capital (LON:BOOK) . (I hold £3.85) The sales was reported as at last NAV valuation. Does seem further evidence the market is picking up for PE disposals.
Literacy Capital completes transaction to exit Wifinity,
generating a total expected return of 5.2x MoM
Transaction highlights
· Total return of 5.2x MoM expected, in line with previous carrying value, and an IRR of 22.3%
· £15.0m of cash due to be received at completion, with a further £0.4m expected during 2026
· Sale of BOOK's oldest and eighth largest holding (5.0% of Q3'25 NAV)
· Cash proceeds will be used to repay the RCF, with further cash inflows expected in 2026
Blackrock Latin American Investment Trust (LON:BRLA) Tender offer announced for up to 25% of issued equity https://mb.cision.com/Main/224...
If taken up in full it would reduce the assets to under £100m, which begins to make you think whether it will be viable for Blackrock. BRLA is the last remaining Latin American trust- Abrdn Latin American liquidated, JPMorgan Brazil liquidated. Given the poor performance- apart from recently using an ETF for Latin American exposure is probably a better option. Ages ago, when I first started this thread I diod a look at latin Amaerica and there were both general and country only ETF's available.
There are single country ETFs for Brazil and Mexico. There are also at least half a dozen open ended Latin America funds, but on the whole they have returned less than the iShares MSCI EM Latin America UCITS ETF USD D (LON:LTAM) etf which has much lower charges.
Comparing the iShares LA etf with Blackrock Latin American Investment Trust (LON:BRLA) - over 5 years the etf is significantly ahead, but over 1 year the IT is significantly ahead. Over 10 years the return is very similar (142% / 140%).
Over 5 years the iShares Mexico etf returned 90%, outperforming all the general LA funds/ETFs/BRLA and the iShares Brazil etf, which only returned 25%. Over 10 years, the iShares Brazil etf outperformed everything else with a return of 167%.
Best performing LA country in 2025 was Peru, with an 86.8% total return in USD.
Thank you
Individual country etf total return in USD in 2025 (using US ETFs, many of these I don't think will be available to UK investors - not that I would personally be investing in single country ETFs for Peru or Columbia etc, even if they were!).
If one is looking for a very early stage single country as a target then Malaysia could be an option. It had political upheaval, has more recently had some stable years. Its not China ! Relatively small population at 34M, reasonable demographics and a mix of religions.
Maybe one to watch in a couple of years.
Great analysis Duveteux - this is what I like about this board, lots of ideas for individuals to research further and make up their own minds.
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) Shares continue to climb, I sold to early !. To be honest I think it is getting ahead of the game. Not sure when and if a float of ICEYE will happen, how long a lock-in period could be and if they cash in what the proceeds will be invested in. Looking at the LSE trades a lot of what would seem P.I orders coming in. I am delighted that the discount has gone- but the premium I assume is based on a guessing what the next NAV will be. Obviously the Space angle has finally hit a chord as was seen with Filtronic (LON:FTC) . Like FTC I am happy on the side lines for now, I would rather buy in higher when the picture is a lot clearer- ICEYE could be 50% of the portfolio depending on the next valuation. I am often wrong so the price could continue upwards.
Yes - I regulary have sellers regret (if there is such a thing) as selling too early is a regular failure of mine - but I would rather take a decent profit than let something wither on the vine. Leaving something for the next person is a saying that helps !!!!!
Interesting chart. Looks like holding the Asian trusts will be worthwhile.
Baker steel resources
Seems rather a large circa discount to last NAV on 30 november.
Very high chance now of a level of capitulation in markets and resource stocks setting new levels so Nav is certainly higher now and heading north .
China for sure will react to Trumps venezuala move and the “battle” between US and China in the race to destroy our planet and way of life is now full on . But enough of that.
I bought Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (LON:AAIF) on July 4th 2025 at £228p. The price has been rising sharply recently so asked Gemini AI to explain why. Below is the conclusion.
Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (AAIF)
Sector: Asia Pacific Equity Income
Rating: Outperforming (Short-term momentum & Structural pivot)
1. Summary
The Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (AAIF) has delivered a strong total return over the last four weeks, driven by a successful transition to a "Total Return" mandate and a narrowing of its historical discount to Net Asset Value (NAV). The fund is currently capturing a "sweet spot" in the market: the high growth of North Asian technology coupled with the rising dividend payouts from South Korean and Chinese corporate reforms.
2. Valuation & Performance (As of Jan 5, 2026)
Note: The share price outpaced the NAV growth due to "discount narrowing," reflecting increased investor appetite for the fund's new management style.
3. Core Growth Drivers
A. The "Total Return" Pivot
Under manager Isaac Thong, AAIF now utilizes its 6.25% of NAV payout policy. This allows the fund to hold high-growth, lower-yielding stocks (like Alibaba and NetEase) that were previously excluded, ensuring the fund participates in tech rallies while still meeting its income targets.
B. North Asian Governance Reforms
C. Top Holding Momentum
The fund’s heavy weighting in TSMC (~12.4%) has been the primary engine for NAV growth as the semiconductor cycle enters a new expansion phase in 2026.
4. Peer Analysis: Competitive Positioning
AAIF is currently outperforming its main rivals by offering a higher yield than growth-focused trusts (JAGI) and more capital growth than pure income trusts (HFEL).
5. Upcoming Dividend Calendar (Q1 2026)
For investors tracking cash flow, the following dates are critical for the fund and its underlying holdings:
The "new" AAIF is positioned as a modern Asian income play. It offers a rare combination of ~7% yield and exposure to the world’s leading AI and Semiconductor companies. While the discount has narrowed, the fund still trades at a -7.6% "sale" relative to its assets, providing a potential margin of safety.
Citywire article on Emerging markets https://citywire.com/investmen...
Sold rest of my SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (LON:SEIT) this morning in order to raise my holding in Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) to a full position (3% weighting). In other news, I noticed Ashmore (LON:ASHM) up 10% first thing this morning on the story that it holds a great deal of distressed Venezuelan debt (bonds). The early exuberance seems to have subsided for time being, but the chart continues to look bullish to me, also on wider macro factors already discussed. City of London Investment (LON:CLIG) likewise, looks like breaking up and with both shares you get high yields. In other news, Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (LON:AAIF) reaching new high.
Politics aside, I'm anticipating that an emboldened Trump will now go ahead an annex Greenland. This will cause consternation in Europe, for whom there will be nothing possible other than further blather and equivocation. I'm not even sure if markets will care very much, until Xi decides to do likewise on Taiwan. In other words, markets may be bullish for time being, but that bullishness may well balance rather precariously on the contingency of rather imminent future events.
I have taken a small holding in a GBP hedged ETF- iShares MSCI Japan GBP Hedged UCITS ETF (Acc) (LON:IJPH) . I am still slightly nervous but read an article in Nikkie Asia about the Japanese New Year auction. The price paid was a new record and it stated that very time a Tuna Auction was broken the market performed well that year. The argument being that paying a huge amount of money for a tuna showed confidence in the economy as the purchase is a marketing stunt. The price paid was " The New Year’s tuna auction at Tokyo's Toyosu Market today, January 5, 2026, was a historic event, shattering the previous all-time record set in 2019.The top-priced bluefin tuna sold for a staggering ¥510.3 million (approximately $3.2 million or £2.5 million). Significance: This price significantly exceeded the previous record of ¥333.6 million set in 2019. It is seen as a highly "auspicious" sign for the Japanese economy and the restaurant industry for the year ahead"
So probably as good a reason as any to reverse my sale on Japanese trusts, but using a hedged ETF.
Best wishes to all in 2026. Good to see the usual subscribers posting and especially Ken as hospitals are miserable places at the best of times, I hope the treatment works.
I liked the following year end round up on Vietnam, well worth listening to as it discusses both the positives and negatives. Resolution 68 gets discussed in some detail; this is the 2025 change in communist policy to get the private sector more involved in driving economic performance. There is also mention of Vietnam's use of 'Bamboo diplomacy' which has long been a foreign policy strategy which focuses on flexibility and independence. I get the impression Vietnam had to rely on this policy in dealing with US tariffs which I still don't think are fully resolved.
https://tinyurl.com/2d59j5d6
David Stevenson prefers Vietnam to India in his MoneyWeek column although I'm not sure about Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) over VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) or an ETF.
When it comes to fast-growing emerging markets, the choice is between India and Vietnam. And Vietnam wins. It is an Asian industrial dragon, with a young, technically proficient workforce. It is moving up the value-added chain, especially in technology. GDP is expanding by more than 6% a year, increasingly reliant on middle-income consumers. The local stock market is dirt cheap. Vietnam has infinitely better infrastructure than India, which is an important consideration for an export-orientated economy. The emphasis on exports presents threats (in the form of tariffs) as well as opportunities. I would maintain, slightly controversially, that India’s socialist past weighs more heavily on its current economy than Vietnam’s dominant Communist Party. Vietnam strikes me as thoroughly capitalist, whereas India still boasts baffling examples of Fabian-style socialism.
India’s population is younger than Vietnam’s, with a median age of 28 versus 33, but Vietnam’s workforce is better trained and educated. Vietnam also features a much more robust female participation rate. Meanwhile, owing to its size, Vietnam is better equipped to avoid the middle-income trap than India.
I’ve left the obvious geopolitical issue for last. India does boast a robust democracy, which is fantastic, and Vietnam is self-evidently communist. Vietnam’s Communist Party (CP) is also instinctively close to the Chinese CP. But if you are the Trump administration, what do you think is more important – onshoring Vietnam’s low-cost labour industries (making earbuds for Apple and phones for Samsung in Los Angeles, for instance) or having a close relationship with a regional power (Vietnam) that is not China? As venture capitalist Peter Thiel has noted, Vietnam serves as a non-expansionist hedge against China, one that lacks China’s imperial ambitions. Investors can gain access to the country’s potential through the Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited (LSE: VEIL) investment trust.
https://tinyurl.com/ydkx2c5t
Hope the following does not happen as I have too much in a Money Market Fund at present.
https://tinyurl.com/3tncu8w8
Max King is bullish on UK stocks. One of the people I pay attention to as he's pretty straight on what he likes and doesn't like and the reasons for those views. I thinking about swapping Edinburgh Investment Trust (LON:EDIN) for Law Debenture (LON:LWDB) as the latter tends to go up more on up days and come down less on down days maybe because the managers at Law Debenture (LON:LWDB) are more experienced.
https://tinyurl.com/mrxx4xza
And MoneyWeek also had some interesting lists recently on the most bought shares and funds and trusts for 2025.
https://tinyurl.com/2cuwdzub
https://tinyurl.com/45sy5jvc
Thanks ShoeshineBoy, my exposure to Vietnam is through VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) and I am buying Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) for exposure to the larger companies/index.
For anyone interested in South Korea there is this Business newspaper in English. https://www.kedglobal.com/mark.... I have subscribed.
"AI-driven semiconductor shipments now anchor nearly a quarter of total exports, reshaping the growth across Asia’s fourth-largest economy"
The tone from what I read so far remains positive. If you want exposure and yield Henderson Far East Income (LON:HFEL) has 17.5% in Korea whilst Invesco Asia Dragon Trust (LON:IAD) has a weighting of 13.4% and yield of 3.6%. AVI Global Trust (LON:AGT) has a 10% exposure but only yields 1.8%. Unit Trusts like Fidelity Asian Dividend, Invesco EM ex China and Jupiter Asian have exposures of between 21%-9% and yields 0f 4.1-3.7%. As Duveteux mentioned earlier in this thread Pacific Asset Management's Pacific North of South fund has a 17.8% exposure with a yield of 2.8%. It was up 25% in 2025.
The index which I have exposure to through Franklin FTSE Korea UCITS ETF (LON:FLRK) is dominated by tech companies- Samsung Electronics Co (LON:SMSN) and SK Hynix (KRX:000660) so any bursting of the AI bubble could see a sharp fall. SMSN is expected to produce an increase in EPS of 80% or so- the forecast P/E is 8.5-10.5.
Brokers are highlighting three primary reasons for these aggressive upgrades:
"South Korea’s real estate investment trust (REIT) market, long overshadowed by larger and more liquid REIT hubs such as Japan and Singapore, is entering a new phase of growth, supported by regulatory reforms and retirement fund inflows, according to Shinhan REITs Management Co.
Listed REITs still represent a small slice of the country’s commercial property market. However, they are emerging from a niche instrument into a mass-market investment vehicle."
Stock market reforms "The "Value-up" program incentivises companies to boost shareholder returns through voluntary disclosures and a dedicated "Value-up Index" for top performers.
New tax reforms encourage higher payouts by offering tax credits to companies and lower dividend tax rates for individual investors.
Legal Commercial Act amendments now force board directors to protect the interests of all shareholders, significantly strengthening minority rights.
Market infrastructure upgrades, including extended FX trading hours and a sophisticated short-selling detection system, aim to attract more global capital.
As you will gather I am excited about the prospects. I just wish I had researched more after dismissing Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund (LON:WKOF^L25) a year ago. But it looks like there could be a lot further for the market to go.
There is also iShs MSCI AC Far East exJpn Smll Cp UCITS ETF USDD (LON:ISFE) which has 21.78% of it's holdings in South Korea, with, as the name suggests, these being in smaller cap companies. The ETF "seeks to track the performance of an index composed of small cap companies from both developed and emerging markets countries in East Asia, excluding Japan and India." Benchmark Index: MSCI AC Far East ex Japan Small cap.
Weighted portfolio average PE is 15.80 and 12 month trailing dividend yield is 2.31%
There are over 1000 holdings, with the largest holding representing less than 1% of the portfolio and the biggest country exposures shown above (so probably not one for anyone cautious about China / Taiwan). The GBP price return in 2025 was around 20% excluding dividends.
iShares MSCI AC Far East ex-Japan Small Cap UCITS ETF
An ETF for larger caps would be one tracking the FTSE Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan index, like Vanguard FTSEDvlpAsiaPacexJpn UCITS ETF USDDis (LON:VAPX) which has a weighted PE of 16.4, a dividend yield of 2.90% and returned 25% in 2025.
There is an acc version as well Vanguard FTSEDvlpAsiaPacexJpn UCITS ETF USDAcc (LON:VDPG)
Largest sector allocation is Financials (30.5%) and largest holding is Samsung at 8.78% - there are 374 holdings in total.
This ETF has an allocation of 35.5% to South Korea, with the largest allocation being Australian equities at 41.2% as well as having a 13.2% allocation to Hong Kong and 8.7% to Singapore.
Vanguard FTSE Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan UCITS ETF (VAPX)
Thank you.
AIC Corporate activity.
Upcoming Tender offers in 2026- January-AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (LON:AJOT) Vietnam Enterprise Investments (LON:VEIL) . February Blackrock Frontiers Investment Trust (LON:BRFI) .
Realisation Policy in place. Hydrogen Capital Growth (LON:HGEN) Life Science Reit (LON:LABS) Fair Oaks Income (LON:FAIR) VH Global Energy Infrastructure (LON:ENRG) Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income (LON:RCOI) LMS Capital (LON:LMS) Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund (LON:WKOF^L25)
Mergers Baillie Gifford Us Growth Trust (LON:USA) with Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (LON:EWI) . Invesco Global Equity Income Trust (LON:IGET) with Franklin Global Trust (LON:FRGT) .
Saba blocked the USA merger with EWI
Policy change. Syncona (LON:SYNC) Chrysalis Investments (LON:CHRY) Bellevue Healthcare Trust (LON:BBH) Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust (LON:PCGH) JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income (LON:JMGI)
I have just sold my entire holding in Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) Feels like some speculative buying coming in following Ian Cowie tipping in Interactive Investor.Stockinvest.us also tipped it. I could be wrong but had a good run in it. My exit price is £124.6313. As Rothschild (or could be any successful investor) apparently said "Always leave something it it for some-one else"
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) - not only has their manager been appearing all over the place ..presenting the benefits of their fund... I was kind of amused to discover they have a TikTok account & insta too https://www.tiktok.com/Seraphim Space Investment Trust / https://www.instagram.com/sera...
By comparison Alliance Witan (LON:ALW) has virtually nothing on either platform.
I doubt that tiktok videos are the reason for outperformance !
Who knows- could be get the young punting ! Is is a interesting fund, I am just taking a rain check to see what happens.
Happy New Year all and thanks so much, once again to Charles for this wonderful thread. I'm not entirely sure my portfolio remarks are strictly relevant to this thread, though I do continue to be very interested in investment trusts and needy of income, which seems to be a common ground here. My folio YTD was a useful 24.7% total return, dividends included, which I am pleased with. However I do not expect to repeat that this year, as from April I will be drawing down the income.
My resolutions for the year are firstly, to trade far less. Though i managed to improve on previous year, i still notched up over 70 sells - and by implication, a similar number of buys , so it's no wonder that my shares in Aberdeen (LON:ABDN) have done so well! I'm giving away far too much in trading commissions. Secondly, I'd rather like to reduce the number of holdings , but for the fact that my in house critic at ChatGPT points out, many of them being in the same sector are effectively larger positions within a common idea. So two satellite holdings in Foresight Solar Fund (LON:FSFL) and NextEnergy Solar Fund (LON:NESF) are really two halves of a hunch that solar is oversold and extremely dividend generative. And Greencoat UK Wind (LON:UKW) simply extends that idea, as does SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (LON:SEIT) and my various holding in sustainable infrastructure. I am heavily weighted in that department, which could prove a further drag, or maybe, as interest rates reduce, a bit of a lift? Frankly, I'm not so concerned, so long as the dividends continue to roll in. The entire sector looks cheap as chips to me, and the government is set to invest more in the grid to ensure the power generated by renewables doesn't have to be shut off with enormous cost in constraint charges.
Another theme I discover, rather than intend, is that I hold a large number of property plays. I also notice that this is the favoured theme by substack investor "Jon", or "Mr Jon", as Oakbloke refers to him, who had a runaway year in 2025. His largest weighting is British Land (LON:BLND), which is a quality London commercial property idea selling at 30% discount to book value. I somehow don't expect this to go anywhere much, but I like the solidity and quality of its portfolio and have accorded it 2.73% weighting in the Bruciefolio.
Financials, Insurers, and Wealth Management remains other core -and very largely passive- income ideas. Again, I don't expect them to shoot the lights out. Duke Capital (LON:DUKE) and Chesnara (LON:CSN) are just income workhorses. Beyond that I continue to think that the Far East will grow more than most areas; commodities have not yet finished rising; oil & gas should be somewhat represented as legacy necessities. Migration of capital from the Trumpian sh*tshow in the US will favour EMs, where I hold Ashmore (LON:ASHM) and City of London Investment (LON:CLIG) as proxies. And there will continue to be takeover opportunities, such as Reach (LON:RCH) and ITV (LON:ITV) where I have full positions, while continuing to enjoy the dividends. Finally, shares like Spectra Systems (LON:SPSY) and Ingenta (LON:ING) could provide some nice growth upside? They are both nicely in profit from last year.
And having written all that I almost manage to convince myself that I know what I'm doing! A potentially grave mistake. As Ed Croft quotes Warren Buffet saying that diversification is a hedge to ignorance, I certainly need all the hedging I can get!
So obviously, NAI. Here's the full rogue's gallery.
AAIF, ABDN, ASHM, BBOX, BLND, BPCR, BRWM, CAML, CLIG, CLS, CSN, DEC, DUKE, GCP, FGEN, FSFL, HFEL, ING, ITH, ITV, LGEN, MNG, NESF, NRR, OSB, PHNX, PHP, POLR, RCH, RECI, SEIT, SERE,SEQI ,SLP, SOHO, SNWS, SPSY, SREI, SQZ, SREI, SUPR, TFIF, TMIP, UKW
Morning Brucie
With a portfolio with approx 50% of holdings identical to yours I'm interested to see that you still hold Duke Capital (LON:DUKE) . I was very happy with them as royalty collectors but then they changed to equity holders too and I became more cautious. I continued to hold but it became an easy sell for me following Mark's piece on them in December. Tristone looks like being a real drag - yet the BoDs upbeat tones contradict that. I'm not sure I believe their narrative. Do you have an opinion on Tristone?
Lincs, no, I have neither an opinion nor any great knowledge of the company beyond a fondness for its dividends and a sense of familiarity with it having held it in at least two folios over years, where a certain level of dividend is required. This seems to suit my style - hands off where possible, reivesting dividends, and trading at the edges. Sorry not to be more help.
Ok, thanks for reply
I have bought HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT)(Buy price £5.078p) this morning following a mention in the Guardian about the expected floatation of Visma which is HGT's largest holding. The valuation in the portfolio is at the last transaction which value Visma at €19bn. Estimated float price is between €20-25bn. At the €25bn valuation this would be an uplift of 20-30% for HGT. It is not the fast growing company in HGT's portfolio- IFS and Access are both showing last 12 months EBITDA of 20 and 16% respectively. The portfolio average LTM revenue growth is 18% and EBITDA 19%. Not on a huge discount- it is 8% and the average for the last 12 months is 7.26%. But if the IPO market is picking up we could see a decent uplift in the portfolio NAV. Pantheon International (LON:PIN) and ICG (LON:ICG) have small holdings in Visma-1.4% and 1.7%.
The risk is of course that the float does not happen or that tech goes week and the float is at the bottom end of the range. HGT may also be locked in for 6-12 months.
Happy New Year to all the contributors (and readers) on this excellent forum. Once again it has been a mine of information throughout the year and a special thanks to Charles for the effort in the monthly renewal. Top performer for me BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) up 65% which I continue to hold in what I expect will be a turbulent year.
Stephen
VITP Update
Annualised return of 8% OK.. Not sure about Migo Opportunities Trust (LON:MIGO) though has performed in line over 9 years. The new managers do not seem to have done much yet. Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) and Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust (LON:SERE) smust come good or else I think corporate changes will happen.
Yes Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) has been incredibly frustrating and I finally sold out after a mini bounce at the end of the year. It's just been grinding lower and lower for the past 4 years and the managers seem to have no desire whatsoever to address the discount - the likes of Chrysalis Investments (LON:CHRY) and Molten Ventures (LON:GROW) have laid out clear plans to return capital to shareholders as and when investments are realised, but absolutely nothing from AUGM. Feels like this is just a vehicle for management to extract as high fees as they can.
Hi Charles.
I agree 8% a year is not that impressive…….but the Virtual Portfolio has achieved its original intention of being a sleep easy Investment Trust portfolio. Also I haven’t traded it much, including not buying some of the big winners in my own portfolio. So with more effort from me performance would have been significantly better. 147% profit since launch isn’t THAT bad!
Also note that the portfolio shows that if we run our winners and cut losers the losses are minimal and some of the gains spectacular…..including BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) andCQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) which have both more than quadrupled. BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) is up 358% and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) 345%.CYN has flown since Saba went for them and up another £900 in a month. Not bad when original stake was only £2k. And 9 of the holdings have doubled or nearly doubled.
How many readers and posters here have winners as big or even better than that CURRENTLY in their portfolios??? Perhaps a lot……so it would be good if people posted their best IT winners if they beat CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (LON:CYN) and BlackRock World Mining Trust (LON:BRWM) .
My biggest ever transformative winner was Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) subscription shares that went up 59 fold. I sold them on the day of the terrible Japan Tsunami. And also Geiger Counter (LON:GCL) for 10times my buy price.
Finally I can’t fathom the continuing poor performance from HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT) . They’ve never sold an investment at a loss! Banker for 2026?
Ken, I am hoping HGT will be. I rarely talk about best performers- the only one I would say was Cluff gold which went to be Amara Mining. Now Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) . If I held it without top slicing I would be better off !! I only bought it because I admired Algy Cluff back in the 80's and the then Amara Gold were very happy to meet Private Investors to talk about it- even small ones. I still hold PRU- my buy price now is nearly zero. These things happen- chance maybe rather that judgement.
Happy New Year. Please to see Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) performing so well at last. And the commodity trusts and ETF's lead the way. RTW Biotech Opportunities (LON:RTW) wbucjked the biotech trend but could be due to be included in the FTSE 250 on Dec 3rd , the purchase of one of its top holdings-Avidity and a bidding war for Metsera. Kailera Therapeutics announced a succes series B round. Worldwide Healthcare Trust (LON:WWH) is more aimed at large pharma stocks-RTW is a pure biotech play and Biotech Growth Trust (LON:BIOG) saw one holding down sharply-uniQure after a reversal of the FDA guidance on Huntingdon's disease data.
Renewable were down again. I have started back in with a holding in TRIG. Things will happen in the sectore, I can see mergers taking place and to me it seems logical to have a couple of large groups covering all the various aspects of the infrastructure sector- battery storage, wind , Solar, hydro etc rather than many specialist trusts. Time will tell, but at some of the prices and yields, where dividends look like being maintained are very enticing.
I sold out of Japan. The new PM causes me slight concern and I would like to see the budget passed and see where the currency and bank rates fgo before I buy back in. I also sold Fidelity China Special Situations (LON:FCSS) . The activity around Taiwan concerns me and maybe the Chinese have sussed out Trumps war games are all talk and no firm action- apart from Venezuela where the US would appear to be in breach of International laws and rules of engagement. Nigeria I do not know enough about but if they were asked in by the legitimate Government - but who knows.
Vietnam looks attractive still - I am watching an ETF Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF 1C (LON:XFVT) with a view to buying it as well as holding VietNam Holding (LON:VNH) . Not so keen on VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) die to its unquoted holdings- around 18%. VOF could be a good medium term investment if these unquoted holdings do float. The ETF appeals as in larger companies and that I assume is where mots of the emerging funds will be buying when the market status is confirmed. September 21st 2026 is the FTSE target date, MSCI has still not changed Vietnam from frontier. That might come in 2027.
I am also watching Franklin FTSE Korea UCITS ETF (LON:FLRK) for exposure to the very strong performing Korean market. Should have found it earlier last year when I was thinking about buying Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund (LON:WKOF^L25) . The index is heavily Tech biased which is causing me slight hesitation. AVI Global Trust (LON:AGT) has increased its exposure to Korea-10% currently. (I hold).
I am lukewarm on India- I hold Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust (LON:AIE) (Bought at 256p). I will continue to monitor it, but nothing I read is making me think I need to be more invested. I am hoping the merging market trust I hold Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets Trust (LON:AWEM) (135p) and Blackrock Frontiers Investment Trust (LON:BRFI) (166p) will perform OK in 2026.
I am now going to put my buy price against trusts I mention. Though as I do sometimes sell and buy back it will be a rough guide to what I bought in at. SSIT my lowest price was 55p. It went lower but I lacked the confidence to buy then . ICEYE really broke through in terms of value in June 2025. Lets hope things continue to go well.
Finally Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) needs to sell or float a major holding in 2026 to get investors interested. A lot of talk- but action is really needed now. Hopefully it will be TIDE.
Happy new year to you also Charles and massive thanks for keeping this thread going and the mass of information you pass over every month, hopefully your Stocko brother Ken (hope your health is improving) will be able to add a few pearls for 2026 also.
Thanks again Charles and sending best wishes to Ken and hoping your situation is improving on a tough 2025.
Many thanks The Phoenix. The reason I haven’t been posting is yet another fight against sepsis threat. We got a phone call from the hospital at 2.a.m on Christmas Day saying infection markers dangerously high and must come in now. I’m still in hospital but with signs now they can get it under control. I hope to post regularly again, if progress continues, and meantime have been reading all the interesting posts here. What a stalwart Charles is!
Really wish you the best Ken learnt so much from you on the old Mike Walters bulletin board which you pretty much kept going single handed for the last twenty four months whilst Mike was winding down. Everything crossed your health inches forward in the right direction in 2026.
Hi Charles. Happy New Year.
I haven't got any biotech/healthcare, so will look at some of your suggested ideas in a bit more detail. I used to hold Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust (LON:PCGH) which is another one I will review.
I have been keen to review some of the single company ETF's; Korea, Poland & Turkey spring to mind, but am also keen to understand a bit more about Vietnam - I always worry about single country exposure, but I suspect this is more about me than anything else and just need to get over this.
On 31st Dec I sold out completely of Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT) and Augmentum Fintech (LON:AUGM) - the former as it has had a very strong run up and I think it might take a breather (in which case I might buy back in), but whatever a 50%+ return in under 5 months should not be sneezed at - thank you for highlighting this one Charles. AUGM was more of a frustration trade - a 20% rerturn on a smallish holding. I feel more comfortable holding the bigger European Banks in the shorter term, so may redeploy this into Invesco STOXX Europe 600 Opt Banks UCITS ETF Acc (LON:X7PP) where I already have a decent holding.
Wishing you all of the best for 2026 and I hope all subscribers have a successful year. I might get round to reviewing my year and publishing something on the main site in a few days time - still working on the figures and the lessons.
Kevin, I never do an annual review- rather pointless in my view as just a set12 month period. I just see the losers and try and learn- not that I seem to. I am resolved not to listen to the published 2026 tips though! Invesco STOXX Europe 600 Opt Banks UCITS ETF Acc (LON:X7PP) has performed well- thank you for mentioning that- held in my Company's trading account rather than a P.A. My accountant is not convinced by my use of my companies funds, but getting a better return than deposit rates.
Pacific Asset Management commented on South Korea in a recent update/ commentary for their Global Emerging Markets fund:
"We have also been increasing exposure to South Korea while trimming China and Brazil.
South Korea has been the standout market this year with the KOSPI index having risen by over 70%. One may reasonably ask whether this is beginning to look stretched. Despite the move, MSCI Korea trades on just over 10x consensus earnings for next year, in line with its ten-year average and still at a significant discount to the 13.7x of the MSCI Emerging Markets index. This is because Korean earnings expectations have risen by close to 40% since the start of the year, and because the index had started off near a historically low multiple of 8x consensus earnings.
If we dig into the Korean earnings bonanza, it becomes obvious that it is overwhelmingly down to one factor: the exploding price of DRAM memory. Two of the three global DRAM makers are Korean: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. They account for over a third of MSCI Korea by market cap and even more of its prospective earnings."
Then some comments about DRAM, followed by:
"While we cannot assume that DRAM prices will remain high indefinitely, the coming years should produce enormous profits. Plugging current spot prices into Samsung Electronics’ P&L would put the stock on a P/E multiple of 2x. With Korea’s newfound focus on corporate governance, at least a portion of these earnings should find its way back to shareholders. In this context, the market moves seem a lot more justifiable."
https://www.pacificam.co.uk/funds/pacific-north-of-south-em-all-cap-equity/
Thank you Duveteux, will have a look at their fund.
I have bought a small holding in Franklin FTSE Korea UCITS ETF (LON:FLRK) . (Price £40.4098) Pacific North of South looks good- on my watch list along with Invesco Asia Dragon Trust (LON:IAD)