Investment Trust Awards
Our annual investment trust and investment company tips rarely fail to please and last year has turned out to be another fine vintage for our ‘defensive’ and ‘aggressive’ selections.
In nine key categories ranging from UK equity to global emerging markets and specialist trusts, the defensive tips made an average gain of 20.3 per cent and the aggressive tips soared 27.4 per cent. That compares with a more pedestrian 13.7 per cent gain from the FTSE All-Share index and a similar 12.9 per cent gain for the FTSE World ex-UK index. Gains on individual selections ranged up to 57 per cent and only one trust, BlackRock Latin American, made a small loss, but had been up 20 per cent earlier in the year. Indeed many of last year’s selections had been up a further 10 per cent or more before equity market volatility took its toll in July.
As investors have become painfully aware, volatility extended well into August, making the starting prices for our 2011 tips far lower than those you will see on the article beginning on page 36 and which are also available on our website for you to monitor.
As we go to press, equity markets have recouped losses. The FTSE 100 index had fallen to 4791 on 9 August but it recovered 10 per cent to trade above 5300 in less than a week. That’s still well shy of its 12-month high of 6106 and I struggle to agree with some forecasters who claim that this level is still within reach this year.
If you agree, our defensive selections will be more to your liking. Those of a more risk-friendly nature should consider the aggressive tips. As our long-term review on page 82 shows, the benefi ts of holding them for longer periods are clear to see.
As part of Money Observer’s efforts to educate investors into the merits of investment trusts, we will soon be launching a dedicated investment trust centre on our website at www.moneyobserver.com. In the meantime, we are one of the few publications to provide full statistics about them every month in our AnalyseMoney section in the main magazine.
It is gratifying to see that our methodology has thrown up repeat winners from previous years. Readers who have been impressed by the achievements of our winners and invested in their shares should have benefited from their continued outperformance. We are more than hopeful that this year’s crop will prove to be the cream of the crop in future years as well.
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