Growth investment trusts

robmatic

Does anyone have any thoughts on growth-focussed investment trusts? I'm pondering Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust at the moment, largely because it's trading at a discount and I like the cut of their gib. However, I'm relatively new to ITs so are there any obvious options that I'm missing?

JamesU

robmatic wrote: »

Does anyone have any thoughts on growth-focussed investment trusts? I'm pondering Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust at the moment, largely because it's trading at a discount and I like the cut of their gib. However, I'm relatively new to ITs so are there any obvious options that I'm missing?

Worth searching and reading some of John Barons articles on investment trusts in the Investor Chronicle. Tricky getting lots of articles online at once without a subscription though. For typical discussions and ideas on IT options to include in an IT growth portfolio, see the table of growth ITs at the end of this article for example:

http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/2012/05/01/tips-and-ideas/our-portfolios/investment-trust-portfolio/a-classic-out-of-favour-opportunity-SsUQXPOO8VBB1KikQO8F6M/article.html

Some more JB articles in IC on growth and income IT portfolios in 2012 here:

JB 06-03-12 IT - The smaller company opportunity
JB 01-05-12 IT - A classic out of favour opportunity
JB 04-05-12 IT - Time for a little re-balancing
JB 07-06-12 IT - Poised to pounce
JB 02-07-12 IT - A solid income buy

Other IC articles on investment trusts also worth search and read e.g:

03-07-12 Investors Chronicle - Best trusts for global growth_1341338738945
http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/2012/07/03/funds-and-etfs/the-big-theme/best-trusts-for-global-growth-AYMEmybWwEyRXVoOWT94aM/article.html

Also worth reading through OP discussions on some of the previous MSE threads on ITs such as:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2944500
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3556323

Happy reading.

JamesU

robmatic

Ah, excellent, thank you. It's a shame that Investors Chronicle requires subscription but that 3rd July article in particular was just what I was looking for.

JamesU

robmatic wrote: »

Ah, excellent, thank you. It's a shame that Investors Chronicle requires subscription but that 3rd July article in particular was just what I was looking for.

If registered you can receive around 10-15 articles/mth online (without being bombarded with marketing if you opt out) so not too bad without paying really. Pity they do not run special offers on subscriptions at IC these days though.

JamesU

Totton

Scottish Mortgage is trading on a small discount of -4% which isn't particularly great against its 12-month average discount of -7.7%. The fund is however rated highly by Morningstar having been given their 'Gold' accolade, in addition I like Baillie Gifford as an IT house as they do promote IT's quite extensively and have a decent range.

My own preference and which I hold in this sector at the moment is for Personal Assets (PNL) and RIT Capital Partners (RCP) to which I had added Caledonian as a play on its -33% discount. Sadly RCP has moved to a premium after a spell in discount territory, another I like in Global Growth is perennial favourite Law Debenture (LWDB).

Overall I reckon Scottish Mortgage is a good generalist that should serve you well. Decent sites to research IT's include,

AIC http://www.aicstats.co.uk/
Morningstar http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/investmenttrusts/default.aspx
Trustnet http://www.trustnet.com/InvestmentTrusts.aspx

BLB53

Here's a recent article from Motley Fool which may help

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/investing/company-comment/2012/03/14/5-funds-for-your-isa-scottish-mortgage.aspx?source=isesitlnk0000001&mrr=1.00

Personally, I would think the likes of Murray International and Bankers have the slight edge.

Totton

As an aside, some time back I tracked the John Baron IT portfolios (there are 2) using the Morningstar portfolio tool, I found his performance to be okay but where I struggled was with the number of holdings which then was around 15 per portfolio.

Of particular interest to me with those portfolios was his use of 'themes' which I thought was a good way to go about putting a portfolio together. It didn't avoid duplication but it did help focus portfolio selection which I though a good idea.

I now structure my portfolios along similar lines albeit with fewer holdings as I have found having too many doesn't lead to outperformance nor reduce risk, in some ways it increases the chances of holding dogs but on balance it's a personal choice as to the number of holdings you can handle effectively.

Although John Baron is now an MP, I believe he was previously a stockbroker or similar hence should know his stuff.

JamesU

Totton wrote: »

........... but where I struggled was with the number of holdings which then was around 15 per portfolio.

Of particular interest to me with those portfolios was his use of 'themes' which I thought was a good way to go about putting a portfolio together. It didn't avoid duplication but it did help focus portfolio selection which I though a good idea.

.........I have found having too many doesn't lead to outperformance nor reduce risk, in some ways it increases the chances of holding dogs but on balance it's a personal choice as to the number of holdings you can handle effectively. .

I rarely plug individuals, but have enjoyed reading JB's reasoning over the years for choices in both the growth and income IT portfolios, and also his justifications for switches. I would tend to agree that the number of ITs is on the larger side and could be limiting for a number of reasons. Last Sept, a "starter" portfolio was suggested as an alternative to the two running portfolios, link and general gist below:

http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/2011/09/19/funds-and-etfs/investment-trusts/getting-started-in-investment-trusts-qr3EfYKYM0fU9PScHxywkL/article.html;jsessionid=563D4959B1B815B58B6D023822F1D008.mps-apr-01-8104



Note: the data is from last Sept 2011, so do not rely on these values (e.g. current values and discounts to NAV have changed).

JamesU