From Morningstar: 2025-05-13 05:05:00

In the world of investment trusts, winners this year are those investing in Europe, UK, and Latin America. Biotechnology, healthcare, and emerging markets trusts are lagging due to heightened stock market volatility, especially in April. April saw global markets tumble due to tariffs and trade wars, but May brought positive sentiment after trade deals were announced for the UK and China.

Nine out of 258 trusts have seen double-digit growth in 2025, including Morningstar Gold Medalist City of London CTY, trading at a premium to its net asset value. Meanwhile, 15 trusts have seen double-digit losses, with technology and private equity trusts among the worst performers. Large names like Polar Capital Technology PCT and Allianz Technology ATT are among the underperformers.

The top five investment trusts that have performed well include BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust PLC, European Smaller Companies Trust PLC, JPMorgan European Discovery Trust PLC, JPMorgan European Growth & Income plc, and CQS Natural Resources G&I plc. They have shown significant growth over the past month and year to date.

On the other hand, the worst five investment trusts include The Biotech Growth Trust PLC, International Biotechnology Trust, Bellevue Healthcare Trust plc, Fidelity Asian Values PLC, and JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust. These trusts have seen minimal growth or even losses over the past month and year to date.

Calculating investment trust performance can be done by looking at the daily share price performance online or the net asset value (NAV) of the trust’s underlying assets. Most trusts under Morningstar coverage trade at a discount to NAV. The return tables use total Morningstar Direct data for net asset value, showing the change in monthly NAV, reinvesting all income and capital gains distributions, and dividing by the starting NAV.



Read more at Morningstar: Best- and Worst-Performing Investment Trusts of…