If you'd invested in: Baker Steel Resources and Candover Investments

published 3 February 2017

If only...

Baker Steel Resources Trust (LSE: BSRT) invests mostly in unlisted natural resource companies. Holdings include iron-ore producers, coal and precious metals miners, and shale-oil projects. Since listing it's seen a steady decline in its share price investors who bought in back in 2010 have seen it fall 66%. But it's ridden the commodities recovery part of the way back up, climbing 177% in the past year.

Candover Investments (LSE: CDI) is a private-equity investment trust that invests in privately owned European businesses. It struggled through the financial crisis, having made some bad investments, and was forced to restructure in 2010. It's not exactly been plain sailing since then. The trust made a pre-tax loss of £3m in the six months to the end of June 2016, and the share price has fallen by over 40% in the last year.

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Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.