Investment trust insider on Utilico Emerging Markets – James Carthew: This EM trust has good returns – now to sort the discount
Saba target Utilico Emerging Markets has delivered 20 years of solid performance and is taking steps to narrow its share price discount.
Last week I attended a dinner in honour of the 20-year anniversary of Utilico Emerging Markets (UEM). With an around £450m market capitalisation, this investment trust has a decent long term track record and – as I was saying last week – I think emerging markets are undervalued and due a good run. It is also about six years since I last wrote about it.
UEM is unique in that its focus is on infrastructure and utilities in emerging markets. The closest comparator is probably Ecofin Global Utilities and Infrastructure (EGL), but EGL only has about 5% of its portfolio in emerging markets. UEM benchmarks itself against the MSCI Emerging Markets index.
From launch on 20 July 2005 to the end of July 2025, UEM shareholders were up 426%, including dividends, while the benchmark was up 350%. UEM is ahead of the benchmark over three and five years as well. However, more recently, the spectacular rise of stocks such as Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC, which fall outside UEM’s remit, has weighed on its relative returns.
UEM aims to maximise… read more here