It’s the season of Halloween and Bonfire Night and tucked between these we have the fireworks of Citywire’s annual Investment Trust Awards!

Over 70 investment companies are vying for one of our coveted 19 performance awards (see list below). 

Awards are given to the closed-end funds on the London Stock Exchange with the best three-year performance in their categories to the end of August. This year a new group of Specialist Alternatives has been added to accommodate the wide range of funds investing outside mainstream equities and bonds.

The winners will be revealed in early November. The results are primarily data-driven but we have the expertise of four judges to vet the figures produced by Frank Talbot, our head of investment research.

The judges are: 

• Genevra Banszky von Ambroz, fund manager at Evelyn Partners;
• Mick Gilligan, head of managed portfolio services at Killik & Co;
• Ewan Lovett-Turner, head of investment companies research at Numis Securities;
• and John Newlands of Newlands Fund Research.

How the awards work

In 13 categories, those covering public equities, investment trusts and companies are ranked on their ‘information ratios’, which rewards funds with the best risk-adjusted growth in net asset value (NAV) against their benchmark index. This is a method used by analysts to calculate how much underlying investment return a trust gets for each unit of risk it takes against a stock market index.

In four private equity, infrastructure and property sectors, where investment trusts’ assets are valued less frequently, the information ratio does not work so well. Here we simply measured the best NAV growth in the three-year period.

Lastly, in our two debt categories the NAV returns were assessed using the Sharpe ratio. This also calculates the risk-adjusted performance, but does so against cash rather than a stock market index. 

The August cut-off point means our period of measurement did not include the stock market slump in September, or indeed the more recent post-Budget selloff, which will affect the latest returns of all funds.

That is the nature of awards. By the time they come out, the market conditions they reflect may have changed!

Nevertheless, the 19 categories and the shortlists in alphabetical order below make fascinating reading: starting with Asia Pacific where last year’s winner, Baillie Gifford’s Pacific Horizon is up against challenges from Invesco, Stewart Investors’ Pacific Assets and two Schroders’ trusts.

Or in Global Equities where fallen growth giant Scottish Mortgage’s three-year numbers are up against value trust pickers AVI Global and MIGO Opportunities. Or in Global Multi-Asset where the ultra-defensive trio of Capital Gearing, Personal Assets and Ruffer compete with each other and the Rothschilds’ RIT Capital Partners. 

Turning to Specialist Property, logistics and warehouse themed real estate investment trusts are up against long-leased funds, all of which have had a tough time since the ‘mini’ budget last month.

Asia Pacific Equities

Invesco Asia (IAT )
Pacific Assets (PAC ) 
Pacific Horizon (PHI )
Schroder AsiaPacific (SDP )
Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company (ATR ) 

Emerging Market Single Country

Ashoka India Equity Investment (AIE )
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS ) 
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (VEIL ) 
Vietnam Holding (VNH )

European Equities 

The European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT )
Fidelity European Trust (FEV )
Henderson European Focus Trust (HEFT )
JPMorgan European Growth and Income (JEGI )  

Global Emerging Market Equities 

BlackRock Frontiers (BRFI ) 
Gulf Investment Fund (GIF ) 
Mobius Investment Trust (MMIT ) 

Global Equities

AVI Global Trust (AGT )
MIGO Opportunities Trust (MIGO ) 
Oryx International Growth (OIG ) 
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMT )  

International Income 

Abrdn Asian Income Fund (AIF ) 
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Investment Trust (JGGI )
Schroder Oriental Income (SOI ) 

Japanese Equities 

Atlantis Japan Growth Fund (AJG )
AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (AJOT )
Schroder Japan Growth Fund (SJG ) 

North America Equities 

Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA ) 
JPMorgan American Investment Trust (JAM )
Middlefield Canadian Income Trust (MCIT ) 

Specialist Equities 

CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income plc (CYN )
Herald Investment Trust (HRI )
TR Property Investment Trust (TRY ) 

UK All Companies 

Aurora Investment Trust (ARR ) 
Fidelity Special Values (FSV )
Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT ) 

UK Equity Income 

Diverse Income Trust (DIVI )
Invesco Select UK Equity Share Portfolio (IVPU )
Law Debenture Corporation (LWDB ) 
The Merchants Trust (MRCH )  

UK Smaller Companies

JPMorgan UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust (JMI ) 
Miton UK Microcap (MINI ) 
Odyssean Investment Trust PLC (OIT )
Schroder UK Mid Cap (SCP ) 

Global Multi-Asset

Capital Gearing Trust (CGT ) 
Invesco Select Balanced Risk Allocation Fund Share Portfolio (IVPB )
Personal Assets (PNL ) 
RIT Capital Partners (RCP ) 
Ruffer Investment Company (RICA )  

Infrastructure 

BBGI Global Infrastructure (BBGI ) 
3i Infrastructure (3IN ) 
SDCL Energy Efficiency Income plc (SEIT )  

Private Equity 

HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE ) 
HgCapital Trust Plc (HGT ) 
Oakley Capital Investments (OCI ) 

Property Specialist 

LXI Reit (LXI ) 
Supermarket Income Reit plc (SUPR ) 
Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX ) 
Urban Logistics (SHED ) 
Warehouse Reit (WHR )

UK Property 

Abrdn Property Income Trust (API ) 
AEW UK Reit (AEWU )
CT Property Trust Limited (CTPT )
Custodian Reit (CREI )  

Specialist Debt 

Axiom European Financial Debt Fund Limited (AXI )
Blackstone Loan Financing Limited (BGLF )
GCP Infrastructure (GCP )
Pollen Street plc, formerly Honeycomb Investment Trust (POLN )
Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited (SWEF ) 

Specialist Alternatives 

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc (GSF )
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC (GRID ) 
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (SONG ) 
Tufton Oceanic Assets Limited (SHIP ).