Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (AAIF) had a strong 2025 generating a 22.2% underlying return that beat the 21.3% of the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan index, with performance boosted by Aberdeen fund managers Eric Chan and Isaac Thong’s technology stocks benefiting from spending on artificial intelligence (AI). Shareholders enjoyed a 30% return as the share […]

Fidelity European (FEV), a £2bn sector leader after last year’s merger with Henderson European, made a decent 16.3% underlying return in 2025, helped by its holdings in banks and other financials. However, it hugely underperformed the FTSE World Europe ex-UK index which shot up 27.9% as cheap value stocks did better than the quality growth companies […]

Saba Capital has doubled its stake in Molten Ventures (GROW) to 10%. Shares in the £811m digital start-up fund, whose largest holding is in $75bn UK neobank Revolut, stand on a wide 37% discount giving the activist investor plenty to go for. Despite the valuation gap, GROW shares have shot up 67% in the past […]

Annual results from BlackRock World Mining (BRWM) have left investors on tenterhooks as to whether the £1.6bn investment trust can repeat last year’s “stellar” performance as conflict in the Middle East and high oil prices hang over markets.  Shareholders in the largest London-listed mining funds received a 74.1% total return in 2025 in line with […]

Shares in Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) have jumped 6% after the £247m battery fund said it would hike dividends to return more capital to shareholders. In a strategy update, the investment company’s new chair Angus Gordon Lennox said GSF would lift its quarterly dividends to 1.75p per share a quarter with proceeds from asset […]

Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) has followed Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) in formally launching its 100% tender offer, urging shareholders to vote for and use the exit at net asset value (NAV) to avoid become trapped in a fund controlled by 22.1% holder Saba. Saba, the US activist hedge fund that yesterday forced Edinburgh Worldwide to fall […]

Uranium fund Geiger Counter (GCL) has followed Golden Prospect Precious Metals (GPM) in serving protective notice against Manulife CQS Investment Management after fund managers Keith Watson and Robert Crayfourd handed in their notice earlier this month. Tritax Big Box REIT (BBOX) says the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government has delayed its planning consent […]

Primary Health Properties (PHP), the GP landlord transformed by the acquisition of rival Assura last year, said in annual results that it was “encouraged by the improving rental growth outlook” having achieved annualised growth rate of 3.4% on rent reviews in the first two months of this year compared to 3.2% in 2025. Chief executive […]

Fixed income giant PIMCO has restricted portfolio disclosures on a second active ETF as it takes advantage of last month’s relaxation of reporting rules in Luxembourg. The PIMCO Covered Bond UCITS will switch from disclosing all its senior corporate bond and loan holdings once a month to revealing “the identity and quantity of its portfolio […]

Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) has repeated its call for shareholders to approve a 100% exit and to sell their shares in the ensuing tender offer, warning that Saba Capital is poised to seize control at next month’s annual general meeting. Explaining its decision last week to launch a 100% tender offer that is likely to bring […]

F&C (FCIT) investment trust will ask shareholder approval for a four-for-one share split at its annual general meeting next month in response to the long-term rise in the share price. The country’s oldest listed investment fund, launched 158 years ago in 1868, said quadrupling the number of F&C shares without altering shareholders’ total holdings, would […]

The waning influence of “Mag7” mega-cap US technology stocks saw Allianz Technology (ATT) outperform last year with the £1.9bn investment trust scoring a 24.7% underlying return versus the Dow Jones World Technology’s 20% advance, with shareholders doing even better with 25.8% as the share price discount narrowed. ATT, in which activist hedge fund Saba Capital […]

Scottish Mortgage Trust (SMT) is seeking shareholder approval for an extra £250m capacity to invest in unquoted companies after SpaceX’s doubling in value late last year and share buybacks pushed its private equity holdings to 37% last month, well above a 30% cap. The additional capacity, equivalent to 1.7% of the £15.2bn total assets held […]

Martin Gilbert’s River Global (RVRG) fund manager agrees to a £9.7m all-share acquisition by Liontrust Asset Management (LIO), with its £2.7bn assets under management set to lift Liontrust’s to £24.4bn. The deal will expand Liontrust’s investment company range with India Capital Growth (IGC), River UK Micro Cap (RMMC) and European Opportunities Trust (EOT) joining the […]

Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEML) is on a roll with a half-year total underlying return of 35.5% that smashed its benchmark and extends the three years of outperformance it reported at annual results in October. For the six months to 31 December, shareholders enjoyed a 38.9% total return as the shares narrowed their gap, or discount, […]

AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (AJOT) fund manager Joe Bauernfreund is looking forward to another busy year of pushing for change at some of the country’s cash-laden small caps after using funds from the merger with Fidelity Japan last November to strengthen its activist positions. Last year was a “transformative” one for the seven-year-old investment trust […]

Tetragon Financial Group (TFG), the £1.2bn hedge fund and alternative investments platform stuck on a massive 65% discount, has launched a $50m tender offer for its non-voting shares which have slid 19% this year. As with previous TFG tenders, this will be a “modified Dutch auction” in which shareholders can tender their shares at prices […]

Oakley Capital Investments (OCI), an £841m private equity fund focused on technology, education, consumer and business services in Europe, believes it will be a “net beneficiary” of artificial intelligence. Seeking to distance itself from rival HgCapital (HGT), which is solely invested in business software providers and has seen its shares fall heavily on fears of […]

River UK Micro Cap (RMMC) saw 21.7% of votes cast against the re-election of Serena Tremlett at its annual general meeting. Tremlett, a founder of Morgan Sharpe Administration, joined the board as a non-executive director two years ago. Just over 22% of votes were also opposed to increasing the limit on the aggregate of shares […]

Tracking errors are much higher on US active ETFs than their European counterparts, analysis by Broadridge Financial Solutions has found. That reflects a marked divergence between the two markets with Europe showing a clear preference for exchange-traded funds with lower fees and less active management. In a report “Tracking error is a feature, not a […]

CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income (CYN) fund managers Keith Watson and Robert Crayfourd have responded to the Iran war by hiking energy holdings to 34% from 24% and cutting gold and silver miners to 37% from 49% at 31 January. No reference was made to their imminent departure announced this week in the update. […]

Update: Annual results from Law Debenture (LWDB) underline why the £1.5bn UK equity income trust won QuotedData’s long-term income award last year. The company today declared a final dividend of 10.375p per share to take the 2025 total to 35.5p, an above inflation rise of 6%, covered by revenues per share of 37.26p up more […]

NextEnergy Solar (NESF) has concluded its strategic review, deciding to go for a “reset” rather than a possibly value-destructive sale, with the 16%-yielder cutting its 8.4p dividend to 4p-4.6p per share to free up capital to repay debt, invest in growth and lift battery storage to 30% of gross assets. The shares slid 13% or […]

Pershing Square Holdings (PSH) fund manager Bill Ackman has revived plans to launch a Pershing Square USA closed-end fund on the New York Stock Exchange. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows the shares will be sold at $50 and Ackman’s firm Pershing Square Capital Management has received investment commitments of $2.8bn. […]

Update: The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has called for “immediate action” from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) announced a drastic 100% tender offer to end its 16-month battle with activist hedge fund Saba Capital. Last week, responding to a previous call from the AIC, the FCA announced it would look […]

Real estate had extended its strong performance in February with a median share price uplift over the month of 1.8% and 4.3% over the first two months of the year. That came crashing down at the start of March with war raging in the Middle East. There is a growing prospect that the conflict could […]

Asian and European markets have rallied with the FTSE 100 rising 1.6%, or 165 points, to 10,415 after a swift reversal in yesterday’s oil price spike. From an intra-day high of $115 a barrel on Monday, Brent crude has dropped back to $92 in response to US president Donald Trump saying the war in Iran […]

Professional ETF investors think actively managed exchange-traded funds will reach $10trn in assets in seven years, according to a new survey. Brown Brothers Harriman, a US private bank, polled 325 institutional investors, fund and wealth managers in the US, Europe and Greater China for its 2026 Global ETF Investor Survey. It found 94% believed that […]