Equity investment trusts rose up the rankings last month, as markets jumped higher, writes Sam Benstead.
1st August 2025
by Sam Benstead from interactive investor
There were four new entries on our top-10 most-bought trusts list in July: Henderson Far East Income Ord
All invest in equities, indicative of rising investor confidence as stock markets around the world jumped higher in July.
The best performer of the new entries over the past 12 months is Polar Capital Technology Trust, returning 30.1% and entering the list in fifth place. Managed by Ben Rogoff, it owns tech firms from around the world.
Unlike Scottish Mortgage Ord SMT, which was the most popular trust in July, it does not own unlisted technology stocks, instead taking a “benchmark-aware” approach and owning most of the largest names in the sector.
On the other hand, top-ranked Scottish Mortgage has a quarter invested in unlisted shares, such as SpaceX and TikTok-owner ByteDance.
In ninth place last month, F&C Investment Trust is also a big backer of technology stocks, with around two-thirds invested in North American shares. It is a global stocks trust, owning more than 350 companies across 35 countries, including 9.1% in emerging markets and 10% in the UK.
Seventh-placed Temple Bar follows a value investment approach, with 70% invested in UK equities and the remainder overseas, including in Asian and North American shares. Run by Ian Lance and Nick Purves, shares have risen 22.4% over the past 12 months and 72.4% over the past three years, making it one of the top-performing UK-focused funds.
The final new entry, in sixth, was Henderson Far East Income, which yields 11% by investing in Asian equities. Its biggest allocation (40%) is to financial stocks, such as banks in China. The next biggest sector is technology, where it counts Taiwanese computer chip giant TSMC among its largest positions. While the yield is appealing, total returns (capital and income) are more subdued, at 13.1% over 12 months and 14.4% over three years.
UK equity income trust City of London Ord CTY
was the other riser last month, jumping one place to third. It owns UK shares with above-average dividend yields, and has a more than 50-year record of increasing its annual dividend.
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord JGGI
was unchanged in fourth place. It is “style neutral”, meaning it does not favour value or growth, for example. It holds 50 “best idea” stocks, and looks to trim its winners and recycle the money into underperformers that it still has conviction in. The trust makes quarterly distributions with the intention of paying dividends totalling at least 4% a year.
Finally, the trusts that fell in popularity but maintained a place on the most-bought list were 3i Group Ord III
and NextEnergy Solar Ord NESF.
The latter two trusts own renewable energy assets, selling power to the grid and returning profits to shareholders via dividends. The yields are 8.4% and 11.3% respectively.
The trusts that fell off the list were SDCL Efficiency Income Trust plc. SEIT
and Fidelity Special Values Ord FSV0.
Top 10 most-popular trusts in July 2025
| Position | Trust | Change from June | One-year return to 30 July 2025 | Three-year return to 30 July 2025 |
| 1 | Scottish Mortgage Ord SMT0.7 | Up one | 29.4 | 28.4 |
| 2 | Greencoat UK Wind UKW0 | Down one | -9.3 | -4.2 |
| 3 | City of London Ord CTY0.4 | Up one | 16.3 | 37.2 |
| 4 | JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord JGGI0. | Up one | 6.6 | 43.7 |
| 5 | Polar Capital Technology Ord PCT0.2 | New entry | 30.1 | 83.6 |
| 6 | Henderson Far East Income Ord HFEL0. | New entry | 13.1 | 14.4 |
| 7 | Temple Bar Ord TMPL0. | New entry | 22.4 | 72.4 |
| 8 | NextEnergy Solar Ord NESF1. | Down two | -2.6 | -13.8 |
| 9 | F&C Investment Trust Ord FCIT0.1 | New entry | 13.7 | 39.1 |
| 10 | 3i Group Ord III0.44 | Down three | 35.2 | 252.2 |
Source: interactive investor, FE Analytics to 30 July 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of July. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
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