WI Daily: The best performing UK trusts of 2021

What Investment, Rory Palmer, 7 DEC 2021:

Last week I looked at the top performing funds in the IA Global sector, with energy strategies and blockchain ETFs coming out on top.

Now it’s time to look a little closer to home at the closed-ended vehicles in the UK that have had a stellar 2021.

The same criteria applies and trusts will be ranked by total return year-to-date.

I’ve ran the data across three UK sectors from the Association of Investment Companies: UK Smaller Companies, UK Equity Income and UK All Companies.

The winner, by quite some distance, is the £2.8 million Chelverton Growth Trust with a total return of 82.14% – some 50% higher than its next peer.

This is compared to 10.1% for the average trust in its sector and 14% for its FTSE All Share benchmark.

Sitting in the IT UK Smaller Companies sector, it has been run by David Horner since 1998 and David Taylor since 2006.

The trust invests in companies listed on the Official List and traded on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with a market capitalisation at the time of investment of up to £50 million and are believed to be at a “point of change.”

The company will also invest in unquoted investments where it is believed that there is a likelihood of the shares becoming listed or traded on the Alternative Investment Market or the investee company being sold.

According to QuotedData’s Jayna Rana, Chelverton Growth’s David Horner said the UK economy is “dynamic and should adapt to the challenges it faces and that there will always be opportunities for nimble businesses operating in niche markets.”

It has a dividend yield of 3.84%.

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