Investment trust insider on Monks – James Carthew: Why I’m top slicing Monks
Our columnist reveals why he is taking profits from one of his largest investment trust holdings, which he views as a less racy version of stablemate Scottish Mortgage.
They say that markets climb a wall of worry, and the evidence suggests that this is true.
Despite some appalling headlines generated by the new US president and his sidekick, the S&P 500 index is hitting new highs. Although, to be fair, so too is the gold price, which suggests that a fair few people are concerned about the macroeconomic environment.
I remain frustrated that my position in Golden Prospect Precious Metals (GPM) does not fully reflect this. Perhaps this seems churlish given the share price has more or less doubled from its low point in October 2023, but the discount is stubbornly wide. If it closed, the share price would be 29% higher.
For some time, one of my largest trust holdings has been Monks (MNKS). Its NAV has also been hitting new highs in recent weeks, but again (at over 10%) its discount is too wide.
Nevertheless, I have opted to top slice my holding as I get more nervous about valuations. The money I freed up went to fund the NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) purchase that I discussed a few weeks ago.
Over the past year, MNKS has returned 20.7% in NAV terms and 24.2% in share price terms, making it the third-best performing global trust, behind… read more here