Investment Trust Insider on 2018 – Lindsell Train leads best and worst investment trusts of 2018 (NB the headlines are devised by Citywire!!)
2018 is attracting headlines as the worst year for markets since 2008. However, for the investment trust industry, there was much to celebrate. This was certainly the case for the new issue market and for fundraises in the secondary market; although, perhaps inevitably, buyer fatigue set in towards the end of the year.
I have written on many of the new issues already and will be looking at some of the others in coming weeks. A few were a bit on the small side and I hope to see some of these expand, subject to the state of markets.
The best performing stock, in share price terms, was Lindsell Train (LTI). This is a great trust but its 46.6% share price return was way ahead of the 18.8% return on its net asset value (NAV). Time and again its directors have warned about the dangers of buying the stock on a high premium but there is limited liquidity and the Nick Train fan club seems deaf to reason.
Syncona (SYNC), in second place, actually saw its 32%.5% share price rise actually lag the 33.4% advance in its NAV. Key holding, Autolus Therapeutics, is a long way off its peak but its flotation provided a useful confirmation of Syncona’s stock picking skills. However,… read more here