If you are just starting on your journey, whilst current markets are scary, out of adversity comes opportunity because as prices fall yields rise.
Buying Yield.
If you pick the right share that yield should gently rise over time.
Running Yield
If the price continues to rise, the running yield will fall and you could take out your profit or sell your position and re-invest into your Snowball at a higher yield.
If you look at the chart, compound interest takes a while to make a noticeable difference, so if you are just starting out GL.
You have to allow for inflation but a yield on your original investment of 53%.
Income investors are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing an investment trust. From traditional equity funds to alternative trusts and those offering ‘enhanced dividends’, there are numerous ways to add a regular payment stream to your portfolio.
Regardless of how you decide to play it there are, however, some underlying principles you should keep in mind.
To start with, building an effective income portfolio should mean investing in a diverse range of trusts, as this helps to avoid duplication in the underlying assets you hold. If one asset class performs badly, the impact on your overall portfolio will be softened if there is sufficient diversity.
This is relatively straightforward to do. An advantage of the investment trust structure is that it allows you to buy into asset classes that are normally difficult for private investors to access, such as infrastructure or private equity. You can, therefore, invest in a broad range of assets alongside traditional equities. Income-focused trusts also tend to cover a variety of geographies, so it’s easy to diversify by region as well.
The complete guide to buying investment trusts
It’s also important not to get too carried away by the pursuit of high dividend yields. A high yield might look attractive in the short term, but not if it comes at the expense of continuous dividend growth over time. If a trust’s yield is at double-digits levels it’s worth investigating why.
“The yield may look attractive because the market is expecting a dividend cut and the shares have de-rated,” says Andrius Makin, associate portfolio director at Killik & Co. To explore whether this is the case, he suggests investigating the trust’s level of dividend cover and gearing alongside the quality of its assets. This will help you to determine whether it is prioritising income over sustainable value creation.
Finding a dividend hero
Reliability is often a key criterion when it comes to selecting a trust. A good starting point in this case is the Association of Investment Companies’ (AIC) list of ‘dividend heroes’.
To earn a spot, an investment trust must have consistently increased its dividend for 20 or more years in a row. However, many in this cohort have been raising their payouts for far longer. As the table below shows, the top four dividend heroes are each now closing in on a 60-year streak.
This is in part due to a handy design feature. Each year a trust is allowed to set aside up to 15 per cent of the income it receives. In effect, this allows trusts to build up a sinking fund. If it has a bad year, the trust can tap into this reserve to cover its dividend.
When it comes to sectors, many dividend heroes have a focus on UK equities, and for good reason. We can see why this is the case if we take a look at one of the top three, City of London (CTY).
The UK has long been a popular region for income investors thanks to its established dividend culture and its abundance of high-yielding companies. City of London, with its 59 years of continuous dividend growth and 3.9 per cent dividend yield, invests primarily in equities listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In its latest factsheet, the trust’s managers, Job Curtis and David Smith, argue that they believe the valuation of UK equities remains attractive, as do their dividend yields, when compared with overseas peers.
The trust has a relatively diversified portfolio, with 78 holdings, including a number of UK stalwarts such as HSBC (HSBA) (6.1 per cent), Shell (SHEL) (4.3 per cent) and AstraZeneca (AZN) (3.4 per cent). Financials – typically a high-yielding sector – is its biggest sector allocation, making up 33.8 per cent of the portfolio.
One thing to bear in mind is that a UK focus may lead to lower longer-term returns if other markets perform better overall. For example, the average share price total return for the AIC UK equity income sector over the past 10 years is 97.7 per cent. By contrast, the MSCI World index has returned 233 per cent over that same period.
However, not all dividend heroes invest primarily in the UK; in fact several take a global approach, such as the other two top-ranking trusts, Bankers (BNKR) and Alliance Witan (ALW).
Again, for diversification purposes, it’s not a good idea to construct your portfolio around a single country. A global income trust can, therefore, be a good way to create some geographical diversity.
It can mean you also add some growth exposure as many global funds will hold tech assets. For example, 34.9 per cent of Bankers’ portfolio is currently devoted to tech, compared with 18.3 per cent of Alliance Witan. This might not be enough to beat the index in the long term – Bankers returned 187 per cent over the past 10 years, while Alliance returned 197 per cent – but it will at least prevent your portfolio from being left behind.
Opting for an enhanced dividend policy
A fund’s record of dividend growth is not the only factor to take into consideration. Trusts fund their payouts in a variety of ways. Some, but not all, will pay out of their natural income. Others, however, take a different approach.
In recent years, ‘enhanced dividend policies’ have been gaining popularity. They involve a trust committing to paying out a percentage of its net asset value (NAV) each year as a dividend.
This has its advantages and disadvantages. A positive is that it can be another good way to add diversity to your portfolio. Invariably, income trusts tend to gravitate towards certain sectors (such as financials) in the pursuit of high yields. But having a portfolio that is dominated by certain sectors opens you up to diversification risk, particularly if those sectors are cyclical as is the case for financials. It can also mean your portfolio becomes geographically concentrated, as many income trusts will have a UK bias.
Trusts with enhanced dividend policies are not so constrained in their stock selection choices. Rather than focusing primarily on companies paying dividends, they can afford to prioritise growth-focused assets. This is evident if we look at a high-profile example. JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) is one of the most prominent trusts to have an enhanced dividend policy. It aims to pay out 4 per cent of its NAV each year; its dividend yield currently stands at 4.17 per cent.
While it does have a relatively big allocation to financials at 10.2 per cent, its largest sector allocation is technology at 18.9 per cent. It is also overweight geographically to the US (5 percentage points above its benchmark) and underweight to the UK (by 1.2 percentage points). Its top five holdings are tech-dominated and include Nvidia (US:NVDA) at 6.2 per cent, Taiwan Semiconductor (TW:2330) at 4.2 per cent, Microsoft (US:MSFT) at 4.2 per cent, Amazon (US:AMZN) at 3.9 per cent and Apple (US:AAPL) at 3 per cent.
However, enhanced dividend policies are not without their problems. While this strategy works well when the going is good and markets are up, this approach can come undone during downturns. “It can eat into the trust’s assets during difficult market periods when the NAV isn’t growing,” warns Kamal Warraich, head of fund research at Canaccord Wealth. “This means a shrinking asset base and less capital to do other things with, like share buybacks,” he adds.
Alternative trusts focused on income generation
Another way to diversify an income portfolio is to invest in alternative trusts. As the chart below shows, these tend to offer attractive yields.
While there are many directions you can head in if you are interested in alternatives, infrastructure trusts have long been a popular choice thanks to their long-term records of producing a stable income.
High yielders in this sector include GCP Infrastructure Investments (GCP) (9.6 per cent yield), Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income (SEQI) (9 per cent yield), HICL Infrastructure (HICL) (6.9 per cent yield) and International Public Partnerships (INPP) (6.7 per cent yield).
Of this selection, Makin favours International Public Partnerships. “The portfolio holds some interesting assets, such as the Thames Tideway Tunnel and the Sizewell C nuclear power plant. Although sewage and nuclear power may not be the most glamorous areas to invest in, I’m very confident they will still be in demand in 50-plus years,” he says. On top of this, many of the trust’s assets are government-backed with payments linked to inflation, Makin notes. This may provide some much-needed peace of mind for many investors given the uncertain inflationary climate.
As an infrastructure subgroup, renewable energy trusts are also worth considering due to their high yields. Many currently offer dividend yields in excess of 10 per cent, including NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) (19 per cent) and Foresight Solar Fund (FSFL) (12.8 per cent).
However, part of the reason for this is that the sector has had a tricky year, thanks to a combination of low power generation and lower than forecast power prices, along with high discounts. This has even led to some trusts promising to cut their dividends. NextEnergy Solar Fund, for instance, will cut its dividend payout to the equivalent of a 7-8 per cent dividend yield for the 2026-27 financial year following a strategic review. Meanwhile, SDCL Efficiency Income (SEIT), which yields 15 per cent, recently announced plans to wind down. It’s therefore worth closely examining trusts in this sector before making a decision.
Finally, if you do decide to invest in alternatives, bear in mind the size of your holding. Given the riskier nature of these trusts, it is sensible to ensure that no single alternatives fund makes up more than 5 per cent of your portfolio. This way your investment will be sizeable enough to contribute income in a meaningful way, but not so large that it will cause significant damage if something were to go wrong.
We look at the dos and don’ts when picking trusts and suggest a starter portfolio to get you going
Published on April 15, 2026
by Val Cipriani
The dos and don’ts of picking a trust.
Portfolio upkeep.
A model portfolio to get you started
Can you build a whole portfolio using only investment trusts? To an extent, that depends on your needs, but for most investors, the answer would be ‘absolutely’. Indeed, at a time of high global uncertainty and market volatility, there’s something very reassuring about active management – and about an independent board keeping an eye on what those managers are doing.
Regardless of which type of fund you use, the key principles of portfolio construction remain the same: think about your time horizon and objectives, consider your risk appetite, then decide on a strategy and pick the investments to match it. You can gain access to a broad range of geographies and asset classes via investment trusts; if anything, the problem is that there is almost too much choice.
The dos and don’ts of picking a trust
The investment trust structure does, however, have some specific features that you need to keep in mind when constructing your portfolio.
Trusts trade as shares, so their size and liquidity matter. A trust that is too small can become difficult to sell. And there’s a lot of merger and acquisition activity in the sector at the moment, so a small trust is also more likely to disappear – either because it is absorbed by another trust or because the portfolio receives a cash offer from a third party.
The complete guide to buying investment trusts
If your goal is building a long-term buy-and-hold portfolio, you arguably shouldn’t obsess over discounts. Don’t ignore them, but you shouldn’t pick a trust just because it looks cheap, or just because you have reasons to hope the discount will close. This would be a nice-to-have boost, but ultimately the characteristics of the underlying portfolio are a lot more important in the long run.
On the other hand, you should be wary of buying a trust at a premium, especially at a time when most are discounted. Even a slight worsening of the portfolio performance can erase that premium very quickly, and turn the best-performing trust into a poor investment.
At the end of October 2025, private equity trust 3i Group (III) was trading at an eye-watering premium of 61 per cent. Then the outlook for its main holding, Dutch discount retailer Action, darkened a little. Fast-forward to the present day, and the trust is trading at a discount of about 12 per cent; investors who bought at the top of the market will be sitting on heavy losses.
“Trusts that move to trade on big premiums usually ring alarm bells for me,” says James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData. However, he adds that it is worth checking whether the premium exists because the net asset value is out of date, which can happen when a trust holds unquoted underlying assets that are priced less frequently.
It is also worth thinking about how you can best exploit the investment trust structure for your investment goals. Do you need regular income that rises with inflation? You could pick a ‘dividend hero’, or one of the trusts with a long record of increasing its payout every year regardless of circumstances – City of London (CTY) is one example. Are you feeling especially bullish towards a certain sector or geography? Then pick a trust that deploys gearing for a more high-conviction approach.
Portfolio upkeep
Once your portfolio is up and running, the rule of thumb is to review it every six months, give or take. You are relatively safe just letting it be for the rest of the time. As Carthew puts it: “In theory, investment trusts are the ultimate ‘buy and forget’ investments – not that you should neglect to keep an eye on your portfolio, but you should at least be able to take comfort that if something is going wrong, the board (whether encouraged by activists or not) should step in and fix things, by changing the manager, for example.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that you never sell. “Be very wary of attempts to force a change of remit or investment style on you,” he says. “If I have deliberately bought a ‘value’ trust and the board is trying to shift towards a ‘growth’ style because that is what is working currently, I’d most likely end up selling.”
And you can use your regular review to trim holdings that have done well, rebalancing your portfolio back to the original strategy. Carthew says: “A lot has been written over the years about the futility of trying to time markets, but I am a great believer in top-slicing things that have done really well, or at least thinking very hard about how large a percentage of your portfolio you want this trust to be, and looking for bargains among the trusts that everybody seems to hate.
“In momentum-driven markets that can feel like poor advice, but then circumstances change and you get to feel smug about selling something close to the top of its trading range.” He recently had this experience with Golden Prospect Precious Metals (GPM). The trust’s shares dropped about 11 per cent between the start of the war in Iran at the beginning of March and 8 April, as the gold price fell and its investment managers resigned.
A model portfolio to get you started
There are countless ways to build a portfolio of investment trusts, depending on your goals, needs and preferences.
We asked Ben Yearsley, investment director at Fairview Investing, to put together a basic trust portfolio that investors could use as a starting point.
The ideal investor for this portfolio is someone who has some knowledge of investing but is not yet a trust expert, and wants to keep things relatively simple. The goal is long-term growth, with a time horizon of 10 to 15 years, so investors need not be concerned about short-term volatility. Keeping trading costs low is an important consideration, so Yearsley has opted for just six trusts.
This portfolio blends various types of equity exposure, including a couple of pretty aggressive options, with two lower-risk holdings: Personal Assets (PNL) and International Public Partnerships (INPP).
Personal Assets is one of the so-called ‘wealth preservation’ trusts. It aims to protect your capital first, and grow it second, using a mixture of stocks, gold and bonds. Its equity exposure of 39 per cent as at the end of January was a little higher than that of competitors Ruffer (RICA) and Capital Gearing (CGT), and indeed Personal Assets has tended to offer a little more growth than the other two in recent years. But it remains a prudent choice.
INPP invests in a range of unlisted infrastructure assets, many of which offer regular, government-backed revenue. It’s a fairly vanilla investment with a decent yield (6.7 per cent at the time of writing) and should be able to keep up with inflation without being too volatile.
For the global equity part of the portfolio, Yearsley pairs the aggressive growth play that is Scottish Mortgage (SMT) with the more sedate Brunner (BUT), whose portfolio he describes as “a good mix of quality value and growth”.
For investors with a long time horizon, it makes sense to have exposure to Asia and emerging markets, which have higher potential for growth in the long term. Yearsley adds that he would have suggested a China, India or Vietnam trust for a higher-risk portfolio, but that Schroder AsiaPacific Fund (SDP) is a good option for beginners. The trust’s managers look for “quality but undervalued” companies. Note that it has a giant position in the biggest company in the region, chipmaker TSMC (TW:2330), which accounted for nearly 17 per cent of the portfolio at the end of February. Samsung Electronics(KR:005930) accounts for just shy of 12 per cent, meaning that this trust has a lot of AI-related exposure.
Yearsley’s portfolio can then be personalised to match your specific needs. Six trusts is a relatively low number, but as well as keeping trading fees low, this means it is easy to keep on top of if you don’t have much time to dedicate to it. Once you become more experienced and the portfolio grows, you can add more specialist and sophisticated options. When you are a little more advanced, experts usually suggest having between 10 and 15 funds in your portfolio.
You can also tweak Yearsley’s portfolio to modify the level of risk, depending on your personal attitude, time horizon and goals.
If you want to stick to investment trusts alone, increasing or decreasing the position in Personal Assets is an easy way of modifying overall risk exposure, because it (like other wealth preservation trusts) has significant exposure to bonds. Otherwise, you can add some more fixed income by buying bonds directly or using a bond fund. The investment trust sector does have a handful of fixed income plays, but they are arguably somewhat complicated – open-ended funds offer more straightforward options in this area.
If you are a more adventurous investor and want to build a more nuanced portfolio, high-growth sectors you can add exposure to include private equity, smaller companies, technology and emerging markets. If you need more income you can look at using income trusts that go beyond the UK – examples include Murray International (MYI) globally and Invesco Asia Dragon (IAD) for Asia.
You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services.
Image source: Getty Images
Most of us dream of ditching work sooner and taking early retirement with a large passive income. It’s a brilliant thought, and one that may be easier to reach than you think.
Investing in a Stocks and Shares ISA saves investors a fortune in tax, and it’s tailored to capture the long-term power of the stock market. With more than 5,000 ISA millionaires in the UK, the enormous benefits are there for all to see.
But you don’t need to build a million-pound portfolio to retire early. How large does an ISA need to be to make this reality? And how can investors go about acheving it?
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.
Income target
The size of the portfolio needed will differ from person to person. No two peoples’ financial circumstances are the same. Nor are their plans for retirement. But it’s important to have a ball park figure in mind to aim for, and the one I use is that provided by Pensions UK.
Their research suggests the average Brit needs £43,900 annual income to retire comfortably. That’s on the basis of a one-person household. The figure for a two-person household is £60,600, suggesting a smaller individual nest egg may be required.
However, I think the higher figure could be the better one to aim for, regardless of one’s living arrangements. That way, you can have an extra buffer against rising costs and any unexpected expenses.
Now onto the maths…
For an individual passive income of £43,900, someone would need a Stocks and Shares ISA of just over £627,000. That’s assuming they rotated their capital into dividend shares with an average yield of 7%.
What should ISA investors buy?
There are multiple ways to turn an ISA into a regular income. I like the dividend stocks idea, because it can deliver a steady stream of cash and further portfolio growth over time. Dividends aren’t guaranteed, which is an obvious drawback, but retirees can target a reliable income with a wide selection of shares, trusts, and funds.
Investment trusts like Henderson High Income Trust (LSE:HHI) can be brilliant ‘cheat codes’ for achieving large and reliable dividends. The reason? Their holdings often span a huge range of regions and industries, reducing the risk of dividend shocks on overall returns
This trust holds shares in 57 heavyweight UK dividend shares including Rio Tinto, National Grid, HSBC, and Unilever. We’re talking firms with strong balance sheets, leading positions in mature markets, and diverse revenue streams. It’s a formula that’s delivered unbroken dividend growth for 13 years.
By focusing on British shares, it’s vulnerable to falling interest in London stock market companies more generally. But on the whole it’s a great trust to consider, in my view. For this year its dividend yield is a generous 5.7%.
Hitting our £627k goal
With our ISA target of £627,000 now drawn up, how long could it take to achieve this? Based on an average stock market return of 9% a year, it would take 22 years and 10 months based on an £700 monthly investment.
That would allow a 40-year-old to retire years before their State Pension age of 68.
Expected dividends for the SNOWBALL, I’ve omitted the share names as your Snowball should be different to the SNOWBALL
£4,142 is the amount of dividends earned so far this calendar year and as you will note that some of the dividends expected in May are still to be confirmed and could slip into June.
The next dividend estimated to be due on the 6/5 is for TFIF and will be paid on the 29/5, so always DYOR as often published information is behind the curve
This is a non-independent marketing communication commissioned by Columbia Threadneedle Investments. The report has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is not subject to any prohibition on the dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research.
Portfolio Overview Analyst’s
Portfolio
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust aims to provide exposure to best-in-class portfolio managers in the investment company universe. The trust comprises two share classes: CMPI, which seeks to deliver an attractive level of income with the potential for income and capital growth, and CMPG, which focuses on maximising capital growth. Once a year, shareholders are given the opportunity to convert shares between the growth and income portfolios at net asset value without incurring UK capital gains tax. This allows shareholders who aren’t investing via a tax-exempt account to adjust their investments in line with their evolving circumstances without incurring a tax bill.
Since 01/06/2025, the two portfolios have been managed by Adam Norris and Paul Green, who have a combined 35 years of investment experience, and succeeded long-standing manager Peter Hewitt (see Management section). A succession plan had been prepared in advance and Peter will support Adam and Paul until his retirement at the end of October. In addition, we note that the new managers have experience managing multi-manager strategies and also benefit from the support of the broader EMEA Multi-Asset Solutions team. The investment objectives of the two share classes remain unchanged, but Adam and Paul bring different views to the table which has already been felt in the portfolios. They aim to build two higher-conviction portfolios over time, holding a smaller number of investment companies in larger position sizes, with the top ten holdings expected to account for a greater proportion of the overall portfolios. They also intend to reduce overlapping exposure across different investment company holdings, with the underlying managers’ skill driving CMPG and CMPI’s NAV performance.
The new managers also want to increase the allocation to global equities while reducing the portfolios’ weighting in UK equities. This does not reflect a view on the valuation of UK equities, but rather a wish to achieve broader global diversification. To that end, they have sold CMPG’s holdings in Lowland Investment Company (LWI). In fact, the growth share class already holds Law Debenture (LWDB), which, like LWI, is managed by Laura Foll and James Henderson, meaning the portfolio is already exposed to their investment process. Moreover, CMPG still has exposure to UK small caps through Aberforth Smaller Companies (ASL), and Adam and Paul assessed that LWI’s small-cap-heavy strategy with an income mandate was not necessary in the portfolio of the growth share class. Adam and Paul have also sold CMPG’s holdings in Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT), as they believe a similar quality defensive exposure can be obtained through global mandates. In contrast, they have added to JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) in both CMPG and CMPI portfolios. This trust pays a dividend of at least 4% of NAV as at the end of its previous financial year but differs from traditional equity income strategies, as it focuses on companies with faster earnings growth and superior earnings quality while trading at valuations in line with the broader market, making it suitable for both income and capital growth mandates.
GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKDOWN
Source: Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Like Peter before them, Adam and Paul leverage Columbia Threadneedle’s extensive in-house resources, notably insights from the multi-asset team, to identify areas with strong earnings growth and/or dividend potential over a three-year horizon, as well as tactical opportunities. In a recent meeting, they highlighted four key themes: US equities, emerging market equities, private equity exits, and total return opportunities in infrastructure.
US equities have been volatile since the beginning of the year, notably due to rising trade tensions between the US and the rest of the world. They experienced a sell-off in April following ‘Liberation Day’ (02/04/2025) but have rebounded strongly since, after tariffs were paused and reduced and US corporates reported robust second-quarter earnings. In fact, Adam and Paul expect strong earnings growth to continue, with technology stocks as the main driver. Accordingly, they have been adding to Polar Capital Technology (PCT) in CMPG’s portfolio, which is also invested in Allianz Technology Trust (ATT).
Adam and Paul also see strong prospects for emerging market equities, as they could benefit from a weaker US dollar and robust earnings growth while offering reasonable valuations. They consider Chinese technology a particularly compelling area, with companies trading on attractive multiples, providing growth potential, and undertaking share repurchases. As a result, they have introduced Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEML) and added to Mobius Investment Trust (MMIT) in CMPG’s portfolio, as well as JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income (JEMI) in CMPI’s.
Private equity is another area where the new managers see opportunities, as they believe that the dearth of IPOs and weak M&A activity over the past three years has resulted in greater unrealised value across portfolios of private equity trusts. However, Adam and Paul are selective, focusing on those with sensible valuations and clear routes to realisations. For example, they have introduced NB Private Equity Partners (NBPE) into CMPG’s portfolio, noting that NBPE’s holdings are largely mature deals that could benefit from a reopening of IPOs and increased M&A activity. Adam and Paul have also added to Oakley Capital Investments (OCI), which has become CMPG’s largest holding, as the table below shows. They view OCI’s portfolio as high quality and reasonably valued, with realisations already occurring, notably the sale of the legal technology platform vLex in July, at more than a 300% uplift on its December 2024 valuation. Moreover, OCI is trading on a wide discount, c. 25% at the time of writing, which also prompted Adam and Paul to increase their holding.
CMPG/CMPI: TOP TEN HOLDINGS
CMPG
CMPI
Name
AIC sector
Weight (%)
Name
AIC sector
Weight (%)
Oakley Capital Investments
Private equity
5.8
Law Debenture
UK Equity Income
5.2
Fidelity Special Values
UK All Companies
5.3
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income
Global equity income
5
Polar Capital Technology
Technology & Technology Innovation
5.1
NB Private Equity Partners
Private equity
3.9
HgCapital Trust
Private equity
5
Murray International
Global equity income
3.8
Law Debenture
UK Equity Income
4
Temple Bar
UK Equity Income
3.6
Allianz Technology Trust
Technology & Technology Innovation
3.6
JPMorgan European Growth & Income
Europe
3.3
Pershing Square Holdings
North America
3.6
JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income
Global emerging markets
3.2
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income
Global equity income
3.5
3i Infrastructure
Infrastructure
3.2
Scottish Mortgage
Global
3.5
Lowland Investment Company
UK equity income
3
AVI Global Trust
Global
3.1
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure
Infrastructure
3
Total
42.5
Total
37.2
Source: Columbia Threadneedle Investments, as at 31/08/2025
The new managers also see strong total return opportunities in the infrastructure space and have introduced Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT) into both CMPG and CMPI portfolios. PINT provides exposure to infrastructure assets across North America, Europe, and the UK through co-investments. With its focus on areas such as data centres and other digital infrastructure, Adam and Paul see significant growth potential in PINT’s portfolio and believe that future realisations could be supported by private equity capital. Adam and Paul have also introduced Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) into CMPI’s portfolio. As of 16/09/2025, CORD holds six companies that own infrastructure assets embedded in the digital economy, including communication towers, fibre-optic networks, and data centres, primarily in Europe. The investment company follows a ‘buy, build and grow’ approach, aiming to acquire companies, develop them to increase revenues, and expand their asset base. Adam and Paul note that CORD is highly cash-generative, which has enabled the company to increase its dividend each year since its launch in 2021 (offering a yield of c. 4.5% at the time of writing), while also reinvesting to grow its capital base, providing attractive NAV growth prospects. Given its strong total return potential, Adam and Paul do not rule out introducing CORD into CMPG’s portfolio in the future.
Finally, the new managers have increased CMPI’s holding in BioPharma Credit (BPCR), which specialises in providing loans to companies in the life sciences industry. These companies have struggled to raise capital through equity, as investor appetite for higher-risk, speculative ventures has waned amid a higher interest rate environment. They have also faced regulatory and political risks, including the Trump administration’s plans to introduce drug price controls and the vaccine scepticism of Robert Kennedy Jr., the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a result, companies in the life sciences sector have become more reliant on debt. Adam and Paul also note that BPCR charges high interest on its loans, incentivising companies to repay early and incur substantial prepayment fees, which have historically been used to pay special dividends. At the time of writing, BPCR offered a prospective yield of c. 7%.
There is a lot of news in the Investable sector, as soon as the prices start to rise, more negative news is released.
Some of the news that will affect the current yields is years away and there is still to be seen news released by the companies on how the current oil price will boost their income. With the fcast higher electricity prices someone, somewhere must be benefitting.
Because of the high yields the SNOWBALL is overweight in renewables, starting with the current cash of £944 and future dividends will be re-invested in a different sector of the Investment Trust World.
Property would be of interest but that again depends on the oil price and the future direction of interest rates.
CMPI would be of interest if the price fell and therefore the yield rose above the current 6%, one of the safer dividends in the Investment Trust Universe.
The next fcast dividend for NESF
NextEnergy Solar Fund – Update from QuotedData 12 March 2026
New focus on total returns
Following its strategic review, NextEnergy Solar Fund ‘s (NESF’s) board plans to refocus on delivering both income and capital growth, aiming for long-term total returns of 9%-11%. This year’s dividend target of 8.43p will be met, but future dividends will be set at 75% of operating free cashflows after debt and expenses.
For the year ending 31 March 2027 (FY27), the estimated dividend range is 4.0p-4.6p. Lowering the dividend should release around £40m over five years, which will be used to strengthen the balance sheet, with a loan-to-value (LTV) target of 40%-45%, and fund new investments to grow NAV. Plans include upgrading existing solar assets and adding energy storage, with a goal for storage to make up 30% of the portfolio.
The next dividend is fcast at 2.11p.
The fcast future yield would still be above 8.5%.
It’s an intriguing situation as will the current oil price, mean more profits in the short term and will the negative news deter new developments making the current assets worth more. There is only one way to find out.
Henderson Far East Income says oil shock won’t challenge Asia’s structural growth story
15 April 2026
QuotedData
Henderson Far East Income : HFEL
Gavin Lumsden
Henderson Far East Income (HFEL), the highest-yielding trust in the Asia Pacific Equity Income sector, has reported a strong first half to its financial year with a 23.3% underlying return in the six months to 28 February driven by technology, materials and energy stocks. However, it lagged the 26.2% gain in the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan while shareholders saw a 22.9% total return.
Sat Duhra, manager of the 9.6%-yielder, was confident the region would not suffer long-term damage from the economic shock of the conflict in the Middle East, saying its markets had demonstrated resilience in the past and possessed broad growth trends in technology, financials, infrastructure, consumer spending and corporate reform.
“Asia has a unique position as a hub for technology supply chains; banks are bringing millions of consumers into the banking system accelerated by a digital rollout and infrastructure is benefitting from significant power demand boosted by AI,” he said.
“These trends, in combination with faster than expected dividend growth offer a compelling and unique exposure for investors,” he added.
Our view
Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “Henderson Far East Income has delivered decent absolute returns and, while it lagged its benchmark over the period, this is largely a function of its style rather than stock-picking missteps. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan index was driven heavily by a narrow group of large technology names – notably TSMC, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix – that moved higher driven by enthusiasm around AI and semiconductor demand. With a portfolio focused more around income generation and value, HFEL was unlikely to fully keep pace with this rally.”
