Monthly round-up of investment trust news

Join Jo Groves, Ryan Lightfoot-Aminoff and David Brenchley from Kepler Trust Intelligence for a roundup of all the news that matters to investment trust investors in January.

Ryan provides a run-down on the latest developments on the Saba battle and dividend increases from abrdn Asian Income (AAIF) and JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income (JAGI), followed by recent results for Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD).

Jo takes us through the most popular trusts with retail investors in January, with Scottish Mortgage (SMT) taking top honours once again, while David and Jo provide the key takeaways from recent results from BlackRock Income & Growth (BRIG) and Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income (SEQI).

We talk through the highlights of our podcast with Jean Roche, manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap (SCP), including the shining stars from the UK mid-cap sector and the potential impact of tariffs on the UK. 

Next up is the latest from our Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) events, including voting deadlines, as well as thoughts from Loong Lim, manager of Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets (AWEM), after his recent trip to South Korea and China. 

Finally, we welcomed Baroness Ros Altmann as a guest on a special edition of our Market Matters podcast. As a member of the House of Lords and ex-Pensions Minister, Ros shared some interesting insights into the Saba campaign, the impact of changes to cost disclosures and the need for pension and ISA reforms.

00:00 Introduction 00:25 Saba’s activism, increasing Asian dividends and CORD’s results and podcast 05:26 Most-popular investment trusts 06:22 Key takeaways from BRIG’s results 07:45 Highlights from SEQI’s results 09:38 Market Matters podcast with SCP’s Jean Roche 11:25 EWI podcast and webinar takeaways 13:19 AWEM podcast highlights 14:28 Market Matters podcast with Baroness Ros Altmann 17:25 Risk warning

Please note this podcast was recorded on 3 February 2025.

Special thanks to our sponsors at Schroders, whose support makes this podcast possible - click https://www.trustintelligence.co.uk/investor/articles?fund_manager_id=37 to view all of our research on the Schroders investment trust range…