TwentyFour Select Monthly Income (SMIF) is the smaller of two debt trusts run by TwentyFour Asset Management and is unique in the sector in paying monthly dividends. It was launched in March 2014, raising just over £100m and setting an annualised total return target of between 8 and 10%. It usually sets a 6.0p annual dividend target, paying out 0.5p per month throughout the year, with a larger twelfth payment to reflect any additional net income it has received. The trust holds quarterly tender offers at a 2% discount, but it has nearly always traded at a premium, so it has been a regular issu...
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AVI Global Trust (ticker: AGT) was founded in 1889 and has been managed by Asset Value Investors (AVI) for the last four decades, over which time it has returned 11.3% per year. Joe Bauernfreund has acted as its lead manager since 2015. AGT seeks to buy quality companies trading at a discount to their net assets, and it holds a concentrated portfolio of closed-ended funds and European/Asian family-run holding companies, recently increasing its exposure towards Korea. Its portfolio looks very different from most other global trusts, tilted away from the US and with a much smaller average market...
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3i Infrastructure (3IN) is the best-performing of the veteran infrastructure trusts, having returned 11% a year on a share price total return basis since its 2007 IPO, and just over 12% on an NAV basis, both well ahead of its 8-10% annual return target. Initially, 3IN focused on lower-risk core infrastructure assets, but around a decade ago, it began to shift towards higher-risk/higher-return core plus infrastructure. It has a very concentrated portfolio, typically around 10-12 holdings, spanning a range of infrastructure businesses, including data centres, subsea cables, cold storage and ster...
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Caledonia Investments (ticker: CLDN) is a self-managed trust whose story dates back to the 1870s, when the Cayzer family established a shipping business called the Clan Line. After the shipping business was sold off during the 1970s and 1980s, Caledonia continued as the Cayzer family's investment vehicle. It only became an investment trust in 2003, soon afterwards buying out some dissatisfied family members. The Cayzers remain the dominant holders, with the family owning around 50% of the trust's shares; this limits its ability to do significant buybacks, and CLDN's discount has widened from a...
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Aberdeen Equity Income (AEI) was launched in 1991. It was initially managed by Morgan Grenfell/Deutsche Bank, but has been part of the Standard Life/Aberdeen stable since 2005, with Thomas Moore acting as its lead manager since late 2011. AEI has typically been one of the higher-yielding trusts in the UK Equity Income sector, and it is classed as a Dividend Hero by the AIC. Since Moore was appointed, it has returned around 8.3% a year in NAV terms, versus 8.9% a year for the All-Share. In early 2026, AEI completed a merger with its Aberdeen stablemate, Shires Income, with Iain Pyle becoming co...
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3i Group (ticker: III) was founded in 1945 as the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation to provide funds for smaller UK companies. It joined the London market in 1994, but its shareholders endured a rocky first fifteen years, with strong gains in the TMT boom and in the run-up to the financial crisis, followed in both cases by sharp drawdowns. A rescue rights issue in 2009 put 3i's finances on a firmer footing. Then, in 2012, Simon Borrows was appointed as its CEO, and he streamlined both the business and its investment approach. In 2011, 3i invested in a Dutch discount retailer called...
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Artemis UK Future Leaders (AFL) is the new name for Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies, after Mark Niznik and William Tamworth of Artemis took over running its portfolio in March 2025, ending Invesco's three decades in charge. The trust had a decent long-term record under Invesco (Niznik was also its manager from 1994 to 2002), but its performance tailed off in the last few years. Although it is still early days for Artemis, the trust's struggles have continued, with a 0% return over the year to April 2026 versus +16% for its benchmark, with performance hit by losses in consumer discretion...
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European Smaller Companies (ticker: ESCT) was launched in 1990 and, until a few years ago, was known as TR European Growth. This trust was managed by Stephen Peak for its first two decades, with Ollie Beckett taking over in 2011, so it has only had two lead managers in 36 years. ESCT has returned about 12.5% per annum since inception, but performance under Peak was considerably more volatile, with bumper returns in the 1990s followed by a torrid decade in the 2000s. Over the last decade, its returns have been somewhat more consistent, and it has beaten its benchmark by about 1.5 percentage poi...
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The infrastructure sector has been one of many within the wider alternatives space to suffer from wide discounts of late. However, with a more mature and diversified asset base, the damage has been less severe than in other sectors, such as renewable energy, and there have been some early signs of a sustained recovery in recent months. Here, we look at the ratings of the various trusts and the (fairly limited) measures they have taken to address their discounts.
HICL, the first listed infrastructure trust, was launched in March 2006, so the infrastructure sector now has a twenty-year record ...
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Baker Steel Resources (BSRT) was listed in 2010 and holds a concentrated global portfolio of both listed and unlisted smaller mining companies. The trust had a difficult start, due to the slump in commodities during the 2010s, and shareholders were underwater from 2012 until just a few months ago, but its recent performance has been much more impressive. Its share price has nearly quadrupled from a low of 34p in late 2023, thanks to the surge in gold and silver prices plus gains from holdings like Tungsten West and Blue Moon, taking its market cap to £135m. BSRT has typically traded at a wide ...
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