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Best- and Worst-Performing Investment Trusts of 2025 So Far

Europe, UK, and Latin America trusts have beaten their peers this year.

Sunniva Kolostyak 13 May, 2025 | 9:05AM
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In the world of investment trusts, the winners so far this year are those investing in Europe, UK and Latin America. Meanwhile, biotechnology, healthcare and emerging markets trusts are lagging. This comes amid heightened stock market volatility, especially in April.

April’s Stock Market Volatility

April was dominated by the impact of tariffs and trade wars, which sent global markets tumbling. May has so far seen a return of positive sentiment, especially after trade deals were announced for the UK and China. There are also hopes for an end to the war in Ukraine after more than three years. Whether this means an end to the European stock market rally in 2025 and a return to American outperformance remains to be seen, but both the dollar and US markets strengthened on May 12 when news of the US-China trade deal broke.

So which funds have managed to come out on top after extreme market swings? Of the 258 trusts in our dataset, nine have seen double-digit growth in 2025, including Morningstar Gold Medalist City of London CTY, one of the few trusts currently trading at a premium to its net asset value.

Meanwhile, 15 trusts have seen double-digit losses. Many of those just missing out on featuring in the bottom 10 are technology and private equity trusts, including large names like £3.78 billion Polar Capital Technology PCT, Allianz Technology ATT and Molten Ventures GROW.

Here’s how the best and worst funds have performed both in the shorter and longer term.

How the Top Five Investment Trusts Have Performed

BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust PLC BRLA


The £110.6 million BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust PLC rose 14.56% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Emerging Markets Americas Target Market Exposure Index, by 4.44 percentage points. Year to date, the BlackRock fund rose 24.54%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 10.15%.

The European Smaller Companies Trust PLC ESCT


The £811 million The European Smaller Companies Trust PLC rose 15.43% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Developed Europe ex-UK Small Cap Target Market Exposure Index, by 1.37 percentage points. Year to date, the Janus Henderson fund rose 14.51%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 15.93%.

The European Smaller Companies Trust was one of the seven recently targeted by the US asset manager Saba Capital, which built up stakes in the trusts in order to gain control and address performance and liquidity issues seen across the industry. The proposals were subsequently voted down by shareholders in all seven cases. But, the battle is not over. Earlier in May, UK-listed investment trust Middlefield Canadian Income MCT announced plans to change its legal structure into an exchange-traded fund following pressure from Saba.

JPMorgan European Discovery Trust PLC JEDT


The £571.1 million JPMorgan European Discovery Trust PLC rose 16.94% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Developed Europe ex-UK Small Cap Target Market Exposure Index, by 2.88 percentage points. Year to date, the JPMorgan fund rose 14.25%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 10.84%.

JPMorgan European Growth & Income plc JEGI


The £510.6 million JPMorgan European Growth & Income PLC rose 13.78% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Developed Europe ex-UK Target Market Exposure Index, by 0.9 percentage points. Year to date, the JPMorgan fund rose 11.64%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 14.68%.

CQS Natural Resources G&I plc CYN


The £134.1 million CQS Natural Resources G&I PLC rose 16.11% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index, by 10.87 percentage points. Year to date, the CQS fund rose 11.41%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 23.24%.

How the Worst Five Investment Trusts Have Performed

The Biotech Growth Trust PLC BIOG


The £198.9 million The Biotech Growth Trust PLC rose 1.86% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Global Biotechnology Index, by 3.65 percentage points. Year to date, the Frostrow Capital fund fell 22.21%. Over the past five years, the fund has dropped 8.36%.

International Biotechnology Trust IBT


The £223.7 million International Biotechnology Trust rose 8.64% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar Global Biotechnology Index, by 10.43 percentage points. Year to date, the Schroders fund fell 16.83%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 1.24%.

Bellevue Healthcare Trust plc BBH


The £264.3 million Bellevue Healthcare Trust PLC fell 1.41% over the past month. The fund edged out its benchmark, the Morningstar Global Healthcare Index, by 1.72 percentage points. Year to date, the Bellevue Asset Management fund fell 15.7%. Over the past five years, the fund has dropped 0.78%.

Fidelity Asian Values PLC FAS


The £317.9 million Fidelity Asian Values PLC fell 2.58% over the past month. The fund lagged its benchmark, the Morningstar Asia ex-Japan Target Market Exposure Index, by 13.41 percentage points. Year to date, the Fidelity International fund fell 15.04%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 10.84%.

JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust JUSC


The £244.3 million JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Investment Trust rose 1.74% over the past month. The fund beat its benchmark, the Morningstar US Small Cap Extended Index, by 0.54 percentage points. Year to date, the JPMorgan fund fell 14.74%. Over the past five years, the fund has climbed 7.9%.

Methodology for UK Investment Trust Returns

There are two main ways of calculating investment trust performance. Firstly, as investment trusts are listed companies with real-time pricing, it’s easy to see the daily share price performance online. Another way is to look at the net asset value (NAV), which is the value of the trust’s underlying assets. Most trusts under Morningstar coverage trade at a “discount” to NAV.

For example, the top performer in NAV terms was BlackRock Latin American Investment, with a gain of 24.54% this year. In share price terms alone, the trust is up more than 25.72%, an even chunkier return for the theoretical investor who bought shares on January 2 and held them until May 9.

The return tables use total Morningstar Direct data for net asset value. Morningstar’s calculation of total return is determined each month by taking the change in monthly net asset value, reinvesting all income and capital gains distributions during that month, and dividing by the starting NAV. We have also excluded trusts without a disclosed fund size.


This article was generated with the help of automation and reviewed by Morningstar editors. Learn more about Morningstar’s use of automation.

The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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About Author

Sunniva Kolostyak

Sunniva Kolostyak  is senior data journalist for Morningstar.co.uk

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