Resilience during the Iran conflict: the best performing investment trusts and sectors

Source: theaic.co.uk / Morningstar. Share price total return in % from 02/03/2026 to 31/08/2026. Excludes VCTs and trusts in liquidation.

“Shipping is now having to go further”

Tufton Assets leases cargo ships to transport goods around the world – an industry severely impacted by the disruption caused by the war. Nevertheless, it has seen its share price rise by over 23% since the war started.

Nicolas Tirogalas, CEO of Tufton Investment Management, which manages Tufton Assets, said: “The overriding effect of the conflict has been a big increase in chronic uncertainty for economies that relied on products that came from the region – oil, liquified natural gas and liquified petroleum gas, refined fuels, fertilisers and chemicals. Because those countries cannot expect reliable supplies they are seeking alternatives from suppliers in other regions, often the US – or alternative fuels.

“The net effect is that shipping is now having to go further, taking longer routes to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, and that means more of our fleet is in use more of the time, which obviously adds to demand.

“As Asian economies consider using coal instead of liquified natural gas for power generation this is adding to demand for bulker ships, worldwide. This impact is reflected in shipping earnings, such as with Tufton Assets, where Q2 2026 had the highest earnings in the last five years.

“If the Iranian conflict cools or is resolved the situation is unlikely to revert to the status quo before the war. History shows that economies faced with such disruption, once they have found new reliable places to source their vital raw materials, don’t tend to go back to the supply chains that failed in the past, even if that means going further afield to source their strategic raw materials.”

Why has renewable energy infrastructure bounced back so strongly?

Charlie Wright, Co-Lead Investment Manager of Foresight Environmental Infrastructure (FGEN), said: “The Iran conflict has perhaps prompted investors to reassess the strategic value of renewables and environmental infrastructure, reminding investors that an overreliance on volatile imported fuels is not a wise position to take.

“FGEN’s dividend yield of nearly 10% is a major attraction, and the fact that we’re seeing good performance across so many of the different assets in our portfolio is really driving demand. We are diversified across a whole range of sectors, from clean transport, waste and water management to wind, solar, biomass and anaerobic digestion, which produces gas from organic waste. So, if wind or solar underperform, we have other assets that can take up the slack.”

Minesh Shah, Managing Director of The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG), said: “The war has focused minds on why renewables deserve a place in all portfolios, and we’ve seen two distinct groups of investors coming in. First, retail investors attracted to the 10% dividend yield, and second, traditional infrastructure investors who are now seeing the fantastic value in the investment company industry and are wanting to capitalise on it.

“TRIG is a particularly diversified play on renewable energy, and we are working to maximise cash generation by operating the assets as intelligently as possible, creating new opportunities to make money. For example, we have a large solar operation in Spain, a market which has been relatively insulated from power price increases because it has so much solar power. But what Spain is crying out for is batteries, to store the energy generated at lunchtime until around 8pm in the evening when everybody is home having dinner. 

“So we are putting batteries into our big solar projects in Spain to take that cheap daytime energy and sell it for higher prices in the evening, and thus trade that big intra-day spread. Those are the opportunities that a good active manager can exploit when you have a diversified portfolio with strong balance sheet and money to invest.”

Stephen Packwood, Co-Manager of Greencoat UK Wind, said: “Investor interest in renewables has picked up since the start of the war given security of supply and cost of energy concerns. But what has really made the difference for Greencoat UK Wind is our strong performance in terms of power and net cash generation. This resulted in our attractive dividend being 1.9x covered in the first six months of 2026 but also provides us with significant further capital to grow the business, which is necessary for finite life portfolios. 

“We believe that investors are increasingly choosing Greencoat UK Wind given our self-sustaining model driven by reinvesting these organic cashflows. Renewables, in particular wind, are well placed to take advantage of the forecasted increase in electricity demand over the coming years.”