By ANNE ASHWORTH, Daily Mail, 21 October 2023:
Discontent surrounds the performance of the so-called wealth preservation investment trusts Capital Gearing, Personal Assets, RIT Capital Partners and Ruffer.
These funds are foundering in their mission to provide a buffer in a challenging era through a mix of holdings, some defensive like bonds, some esoteric, like derivatives…
Ruffer has its lowest-ever weighting of shares, although Shell and other petroleum stocks make up 6pc of the portfolio, on the basis that oil can act as a geopolitical hedge during a period of conflict…
Investment trusts can slim down their discounts by buying back their shares, in a move that is ordered by directors, not managers.
This week Capital Gearing bought back a chunk of its shares, hoping to narrow its discount which has been caused partly by its stakes in other trusts that have tumbled to a discount, as James Carthew of the analytics group QuotedData points out.
Ruffer bought back shares in August, but Carthew argues that the board took too long to act…
If you are taking a closer look at the sector, note that Capital Gearing is an Interactive Investor best buy and that QuotedData considers that Personal Assets has ‘small positive progress’ towards boosting its NAV. This trust holds Tips, but also gold bullion and shares like Diageo, Nestle and Unilever, manufacturers of products that ought to be solace to consumers in a challenging epoch.
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