Total return trust champions

The names which have delivered the most to investors

Thursday 27 Feb 2025

Hotter-than expected UK inflation for January, with headline CPI up 3% year-on-year versus the 2.8% expected, combined with a volatile geopolitical backdrop, means investors should be seeking ways to protect their income.

Shares has long championed the unique advantage investment trusts have when it comes to paying regular and progressive dividends, since these funds are able to hold back up to 15% of the income they receive from their investments in their revenue reserves.

They can use these reserves to boost dividends during lean spells when businesses may be cutting their payouts. This structural benefit has enabled many investment companies to pay consistently rising dividends through both good and bad years for many decades, a record unrivaled by other funds such as unit trusts.

You may have heard of the AIC’s (Association of Investment Companies) ‘Dividend Heroes’, classified as trusts which have increased their dividends for 20 or more years in a row – impressively, 10 of these dividend heroes have over half a century of unbroken annual increases under their belts.

The AIC’s well-followed list helps you spot products with lengthy dividend growth streaks, but you’ll need to do some digging to discover which ‘heroes’ have consistently delivered the best total returns, or for that matter, whether those returns have predominantly come from capital growth or income.

Fear not, however, as care of our friends at the AIC, Shares has crunched the numbers going back 20 years to see which dividend heroes have made the most money for shareholders.

Read on for a run-through of the heroes which have consistently delivered for shareholders and for detailed profiles of the top three performers, who take their place on our winners’ podium adorned with gold, silver and bronze

HOLDING OUT FOR SOME HEROES

In recent years, the concept of dividend heroes has really taken off with qualifying investment trusts eager to hold on to their position within the AIC’s index. After all, dividend hero status is a valuable marketing tool.

At the time of writing, there are 19 investment trusts qualifying for dividend hero status, with City of London (CTY), Bankers (BNKR) and Alliance Witan (ALW) sporting 58 consecutive years of dividend hikes apiece; these three trusts started paying their shareholders higher dividends in the same year England won the World Cup, and they’ve not stopped since!

Hot on their heels is the Cayzer family-controlled Caledonia Investments (CLDN) with 57 years of consecutive payout growth to crow about, followed by The Global Smaller Companies Trust (GSCT) on 54 years, with F&C (FCIT) and Brunner (BUT) tied on 53 years apiece.