Baillie Gifford UK Growth (BGUK) was managed by Schroders from its IPO in 1994 until June 2018, during which time it was known as Schroder UK Growth. The trust's directors appointed Baillie Gifford after a prolonged period of underperformance and a persistent discount. Although returns improved for a few years, the switch away from growth stocks in 2022 has seen BGUK underperform its benchmark in each of the last five financial years. A 100% performance-related tender offer at a 2% discount has been promised, measured over the five years to April 2029, and an additional continuation vote is du...
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Fidelity Special Values (ticker: FSV) was launched in 1994 as a closed-ended version of the highly successful Fidelity Special Situations fund, which had been managed by Anthony Bolton since it was set up in 1979. Bolton ran FSV until the end of 2007, returning almost 14% a year for over 13 years and massively outperforming the UK market. Sanjeev Shah ran the trust from 2008 to 2012 before stepping down, at which point Alex Wright took over as lead manager. FSV broadly matched the UK market under Shah, but has outperformed significantly once again under Wright. From 1994 to March 2025, FSV pro...
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Henderson Opportunities (HOT) was launched in 1985 and initially held international small-cap stocks but with a strong UK focus. In 2005, it briefly switched its mandate to UK micro-caps before adopting its current UK all-cap approach in January 2007. HOT was been managed by James Henderson since 2007 with Laura Foll becoming co-manager in 2018 (the pair also manage Lowland and the equity portfolio of Law Debenture). HOT's portfolio consists of around 90 positions but there remains a strong bias towards small-caps with around two-thirds of the portfolio invested outside of the FTSE 100. Perfor...
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UPDATE: Aurora took over Artemis UK Alpha in November 2025 and was renamed Aurora UK Alpha. The manager of Artemis UK Alpha, Kartik Kumar, joined the trust's management firm. ARR returned -4.3% in 2024 versus +9.5% for the All-Share, and +16.8% in 2025 versus +23.9%. In the first half of 2026, it returned -6.3% versus +7.2%.
Investment Trust (ticker: ARR) was set up in 1997 to invest in UK stocks. It endured a rocky ride and in advance of its regular three-yearly continuation vote in 2014, it was suggested that the trust would be wound up in 2017 when its long-serving manager was due to reti...
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UPDATE: This trust was merged into Aurora UK Alpha (ARR).
Artemis Alpha (ATS) was launched in 1998 when it was known as Piccadilly Growth Trust. It was initially focused on European equities and managed by JO Hambro's Max King. After a difficult few years following the dot com bubble, Artemis was appointed to run the trust in June 2003 with John Dodd becoming lead manager and its mandate was switched to UK equities. ATS did very well in 2004 and 2005 but its performance over the next dozen years or so matched the FTSE All-Share with its allocation to unquoted companies being a drag on returns...
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Schroder UK Mid Cap (ticker: SCP) was founded in 1983. Schroders won the mandate to run the trust in 2003, taking over from Legg Mason. Andy Brough has been a co-manager for the last twenty years, initially alongside Rosemary Banyard. When Banyard left Schroders in 2016, Jean Roche was appointed as co-manager and she has since been promoted to lead manager. For the first several years with Schroders, SCP was invested in both small- and mid-caps before deciding in 2011 to concentrate on the latter to differentiate its strategy. Its portfolio now consists of around 50 FTSE 250 stocks with a rel...
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UPDATE (Sep 2026): MRC returned 5% in the year to January 2024 versus 2% for its benchmark, 14% to Jan 2025 versus 12%, and 12% to Jan 2026 versus 16%. The trust has bought back around 20% of its shares over the last three years, narrowing its discount from 15% to 10%.
Mercantile (ticker: MRC) traces its origins back to 1884 and it has been focused on UK medium-sized and smaller companies for the last three decades. Guy Anderson of JPMorgan has looked after the portfolio since 2012, initially as a co-manager and then as the lead manager from 2019 onwards. Mercantile is a very large trust with...
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UPDATE: A revised version of this profile was published in July 2025.
Fidelity Special Values has a great record of outperforming the UK market since it was launched in 1994, thanks to its value/contrarian discipline, a modest level of gearing, and its recent preference for small- and mid-caps. It also tends to invest around 15-20% of its assets outside the UK. Its popularity with retail investors means its shares have frequently traded at a small premium over the last four years. This trust was famously run by Anthony Bolton from November 1994 to December 2007 and by Sanjeev Shah from Januar...
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Our latest Q and A for premium subscribers is with Georgina Brittain, the manager of two J.P.Morgan investment trusts, one dedicated to UK smaller companies, the other to UK midcap stocks. She is one of the longest serving and most prominent female fund managers in the sector. While the number of women directors on trust boards has notably increased in recent years, it remains anomalous that there are still very few women in senior fund management positions, something that is set to change slowly as time goes by.
The Q and A recording is here.
In it Georgina goes over the now familiar argume...
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For premium subscribers we do regular interviews with fund managers and analysts about current market conditions and funds and markets (occasionally shares) that we invest in. The latest one is with Laura Foll, co-manager with James Henderson of two listed investment trusts, Lowland and Henderson Opportunities Trust. They are also jointly responsible for the equity portfolio of the distinctive mixed asset trust Law Debenture. Laura has worked for Janus Henderson, the management company of all three trusts, for the past 12 years.
Lowland (ticker LWI) sits in the UK Equity Income sector while...
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