Uncovering Trusts by Edison Group

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst discusses the recent campaign of Saba Capital targeting seven UK-listed investment trusts. He discusses Saba’s plan with respect to removing the existing board members, introducing its own proposed directors, as well as the potential future changes in investment mandates of these trusts. He highlights that Saba will likely favour a plain opportunistic arbitrage strategy to exploit the discounts to NAV among UK-listed investment trusts (by replicating the strategy of a US fund it manages, the Saba Closed-End Funds ETF), coupled with growing its own assets under management and fee income, as opposed to providing shareholders with a truly differentiated value proposition tailored to each of these trusts. He also outlines key flaws of Saba’s proposal, including risks to corporate governance, the lack of important details related to the liquidity events, change in mandate and protection of the rights of minority shareholders, as well as the biased narrative it is presenting.

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About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst discusses Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT), which aims to achieve capital and income growth and a total return above that of the broad UK stock market from a concentrated portfolio of primarily UK equities, with up to 20% invested in overseas companies that meet the managers’ strict criteria. He covers the trust’s differentiated approach to portfolio construction and its positioning and performance compared to the AIC UK Equity Income sector. He also explores the key themes represented in the trust’s portfolio, as well as the most recent additions to the portfolio. Finally, he elaborates on the trust’s dividend payments and the considerable amount of ‘skin in the game’ of Nick Train, the trust’s portfolio manager.

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About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, Edison analyst Joanne Collins discusses Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, which seeks to provide investors with an attractive and sustainable dividend over the long term, by investing in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale battery energy storage systems located in the UK and Ireland. In addition, the company seeks to provide investors with capital growth through the reinvestment of net cash generated in excess of the target dividend. Joanne discusses the recent adverse market backdrop for the BESS sector and GRID’s response to these challenges, while also outlining the very supportive long-term fundamentals of the sector. Moreover, she explores GRID’s recently announced three-year plan, as well as the prospects for resumed dividend payments.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst explores the BlackRock American Income Trust (BRAI), which aims to deliver an attractive level of income and long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio of dividend-paying companies that are trading at attractive valuations and are deemed to be ESG leaders, improvers or ‘sustainability enablers’. He explains the reason for the recent change in the trust’s name and discusses its distinct approach to investing in US equities, including its quality and value bias. In this context, he talks about the trust’s sector exposures, including healthcare, industrial technology, and energy. Finally, he summarises the trust’s approach to dividends and buybacks.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our healthcare analyst, Jyoti Prakash, CFA, and director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst discuss Edison’s latest thematic research note on healthcare-focused investment companies as a way of gaining exposure to the sector while managing the downside risk. Following a turbulent period in recent years, the healthcare sector (and in particular small and mid-cap biotech companies) are now primed for a turnaround. The sector remains fundamentally strong, and the downturn after 2021 led to rightsizing and more realistic valuations (which potentially offer an attractive entry point). This is coupled with continued high level of innovation, a looming patent cliff for big pharma, an uptick in IPO and M&A activity, as well as technology-driven advancements. All this creates fertile ground for a re-rating of the sector on the back of the recent reversal in the interest rate cycle, as well as the conclusion of the US presidential elections.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst explores the Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH), a specialist investment trust that invests in the global healthcare sector, with the objective of achieving a high level of capital growth. He discusses the broader investment backdrop for the healthcare and biotech sector. He also elaborates on WWH’s stock selection process, its longstanding overweight exposure to biotech and an underweight allocation to pharma stocks. Finally, he talks about WWH’s discount control mechanism, long-term performance, and dividend policy.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst delves into the Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust (MNP) and its global high-conviction portfolio of quality growth companies. He explains the trust’s bottom-up three-stage investment process and how it translates into distinct portfolio characteristics and performance compared to its benchmark. He elaborates on the three important growth trends identified by the manager. He also discusses the trust’s recently published results for the six-months ending July 2024, including major positive and negative performance contributors. Finally, he talks about the company’s zero-discount policy.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst explores The Diverse Income Trust (DIVI), which is managed by Gervais Williams and Martin Turner at Premier Miton Group with the aim to provide an attractive and growing level of dividends along with long-term capital growth from a diversified portfolio of primarily UK-listed companies, across the market cap spectrum. He discusses the managers’ stock selection process and the trust’s portfolio structure. He also explains how the trust’s lower-risk exposure to UK equities is illustrated by Edison’s upside/downside analysis. Finally, he elaborates on the trust’s dividend policy.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst discusses the interim results of HgT, which invests in leading, profitable, unquoted European mid-market businesses with an international footprint, offering mission-critical, low-spend software solutions to SMEs. He talks about the trust’s solid NAV total return performance (driven by earnings growth across its portfolio) and solid realisations which were carried out at an uplift to previous carrying value. He highlights HgT’s recent new investments, and also elaborates on the recent portfolio debt refinancing and the associated interest expense savings and maturity extensions. Finally, he comments on HgT’s holding-level liquidity and commitment coverage ratio.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst discusses BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust, the only available closed-end Latin American fund in the UK. He talks about the Latin American investment backdrop, including the relatively favourable growth and valuation attributes in the region. He also comments on BRLA’s stock selection process and portfolio structure, including some of its largest positions. He also explains BRLA’s dividend policy and conditional tender offer.

***********************************************************

About ‘Uncovering Trusts’

'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.

About Edison:

Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients.

Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/