Investment trusts have experienced challenges this year, with discounts remaining wide across various sectors and some consolidation occurring. However, certain trusts have performed well compared to both the wider market and their peer group. This article highlights the top performers across four of the Association of Investment Companies' most widely followed equity-facing sectors.GLOBALAn inves

There are lots of individual share options for investors interested in gaining exposure to the video gaming sector, from the game developers and publishers to the game console makers like Sony (SONY:NYSE) and the chip makers supplying components such as Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ).In this article we will look in more detail at the investment options and discuss the dynamics and context around the industr

Severn Trent CEO Olivia Garfield sells over £800,000 sharesQinetiq CEO cashes in on positive trading updateAO World CFO sells over £100,000 share due to schemeQINETIQ CEO BANKS COOL MILLION Stephen Wadey, CEO of UK defence technology company Qinetiq Group (QQ.) has sold 300,000 shares in aggregate for a total value of £1.036 million.The sale comes not long after the company's first quarter trad

Nick Train, who co-founded asset manager Lindsell Train with Michael Lindsell, is one of the UK's most-followed fund managers. His insights in commentaries for the Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT) and Lindsell Train (LTI) investment trusts are pored over by fellow stock pickers and media alike.Train and Lindsell remain actively involved in fund management and running their company until at least 202

One of the oldest video game characters is enjoying another resurgence as The Super Mario Brothers movie continues to pull-in punters. It is on course to be the largest grossing film of 2023, generating a billion dollars at the box office.The loveable Italian tradesman Mario has featured in over 200 games since first appearing in 1981 as 'Jumpman' in the first Donkey Kong game. The character is th

UK investment trusts are trading at the widest discount seen since the 2007/8 financial crisis, according to recent research from Numis and Winterflood. Against a backdrop of weak investor sentiment, the sector weighted average discount widened from 2.3% at the start of 2022 to 16.4% by the end of March 2023.For example, the Global sector is currently trading on a 9.27% discount to NAV versus a fi

It seems as though barely a week goes by without a chief executive or chief financial officer either jumping ship to another firm or leaving the business completely to pursue 'other interests'.At the start of this week, FTSE 100 mobile network operator Vodafone (VOD) announced chief executive Nick Read would step down at the end of December but would remain in an advisory role for the next three m

During volatile market conditions and high inflation, investors are looking for ways to protect their income. Investment trusts have an income advantage which is particularly important for seekers of rising payouts.This is because they are able to hold back up to 15% of the income they receive from their investments in their revenue reserves. They can use these reserves to boost dividends during l

At the beginning of September 2022, the Scottish Investment Trust was subsumed into JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI).We think this is good news for anyone who has come across from the Scottish Investment Trust and for existing investors in the JPMorgan fund. For those not already invested, now is also a great time to buy shares in the combined entity.Weakness in sterling has boosted the rela

Experience counts in the asset management industry and in a phenomenal achievement, Peter Spiller (pictured) recently celebrated his 40th anniversary at the helm of wealth preservation specialist Capital Gearing Trust (CGT).The mind boggles when you consider that during his four decades as manager, Spiller has seen seven UK prime ministers elected, countless international conflicts rage and inflat

A high price can stop investors from buying a particular stock, simply because they cannot afford it. Not everyone has the $1,000+ which it costs to buy a single share in many US-listed companies. It's a long-standing frustration but slowly we are seeing solutions to the problem.Amazon has joined the likes of Alphabet, Apple and Tesla in doing a 'stock split'. Each existing Amazon share will be re

The increased popularity of investment trusts is reflected in a pronounced narrowing of the average discount to net asset value (the value of a trust's investments minus any liabilities) across all trusts over the past decade.Data from the Association of Investment Companies and Morningstar shows that as at 31 December 2021, and excluding venture capital trusts and alternative vehicles, trusts tra

In the end 2021 proved a rewarding year for stock markets as vaccines were rolled out and economies began to recover from the worst ravages of the pandemic. In the early part of the year, growth was shunned for value before bouncing back into fashion as the year progressed.On the whole, this was a volatile period, with investors contending with concerns over inflation and the rising interest rates

One of the key ingredients in the success or failure of a company is the quality of its management.When change at the top of a struggling company occurs, it can act as a catalyst for an underperforming business and trigger a share price boost, while the wrong CEO appointment has the potential to ruin a hitherto successful business and undo all the painstaking work of his or her predecessor.There

Have you ever bought an investment trust only for the share price to fall by a greater amount than the decline in its net asset value? There is often a good reason why the shares are reacting in that way.The structure of investment trusts, which sees their shares traded on the stock market, means they can trade at a premium or discount to the underlying value of their investments or their NAV (net

Despite the many thousands of stocks listed around the world, a rising number of investment trusts are looking to add or increase their exposure to unlisted companies as more businesses stay private for longer.Baillie Gifford UK Growth (BGUK) is one such trust, and in August will seek shareholder approval to invest up to 10% of its portfolio in unquoted stocks which have a valuation of £500 milli

When you invest in a fund or investment trust you are putting your hard-earned cash in the hands of a professional fund manager and asking them to make decisions on what to do with it.Knowing that said professional has at least a portion of their own wealth tied up in the fund offers a level of confidence that they will weigh portfolio decisions carefully and with a long-term perspective because t

In an unscheduled announcement to the stock exchange this morning, the Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LTI) revealed it had reached agreement with its board to switch its benchmark from long-dated gilts plus 0.5% to the MSCI World Index in sterling from the start of April this year.The trust made the change as the global equities index is 'a more appropriate benchmark for the company given the na

Moving up and down is hard-wired into the stock market but 2021 has, so far, been particularly volatile. Year-to-date the UK's benchmark FTSE 100 index has on four occasions slumped around 2.5% in a single day, while twice ripping higher by similar-sized advances. Moves of more than 1% in either direction have become almost routine.Most readers will know that the threat of surging inflation has he

There are many options for an investor wanting to put their money to work right around the world.Even if you've narrowed it down and decided to go for an investment trust instead of an open-ended active fund or a passive exchange-traded fund (ETF), choosing the trust for you can still seem a daunting task, particularly when there are 15 of them in the Association of Investment Companies' (AIC) glo