Where to find value in investment trusts

Investment trusts' discounts to net asset value have narrowed sharply of late, but there are still bargains out there.

Unite student accommodation buildings in Birmingham © Nick Maslen / Alamy Stock Photo
Student accommodation specialist Unite looks attractive © Alamy
(Image credit: Unite student accommodation buildings in Birmingham © Nick Maslen / Alamy Stock Photo)

As markets plummeted in mid-March, investment trusts sold off en masse. Discounts to net asset value (NAV) widened from an average of a few percentage points to double digits.

According to the Association of Investment Companies the average discount to NAV was 25% on 19 March, wider than 18% witnessed at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008.

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David C. Stevenson
Contributor

David Stevenson has been writing the Financial Times Adventurous Investor column for nearly 15 years and is also a regular columnist for Citywire. He writes his own widely read Adventurous Investor SubStack newsletter at davidstevenson.substack.com

David has also had a successful career as a media entrepreneur setting up the big European fintech news and event outfit www.altfi.com as well as www.etfstream.com in the asset management space. 

Before that, he was a founding partner in the Rocket Science Group, a successful corporate comms business. 

David has also written a number of books on investing, funds, ETFs, and stock picking and is currently a non-executive director on a number of stockmarket-listed funds including Gresham House Energy Storage and the Aurora Investment Trust. 

In what remains of his spare time he is a presiding justice on the Southampton magistrates bench.