Uncovering Trusts by Edison Group

Edison Group
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Discover the world of investment trusts in the 'Uncovering Trusts' podcast series by Edison Group. Hear from Edison’s analysts and trusts’ management and gain insights into how these trusts, covered by Edison, effectively manage assets to maximize returns, aligning with the risk appetite and diverse requirements of both commercial and retail clients. Edison is a leading investor relations business, operating across all major capital markets. We help create optimal valuations for client stocks, deploying our award-winning combination of intelligent strategic advice, equity research, investor marketing and direct investor engagement. To find out more about investment trust covered by Edison, please visit: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

  1. FEB 20

    49. Uncovering Trusts – Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (AAIF)

    In this episode, our director of content for investment companies, Milosz Papst, talks about Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (AAIF). He starts by explaining why global investors could benefit from an allocation to Asian equities, given the region’s above-average growth prospects and increasing dividend opportunities, before providing a brief summary of the company. Milosz highlights how the fund offers exposure to a diversified group of high-quality, reasonably priced Asian companies that should perform well in gradually rising, broad markets, while offering some protection during choppier periods. He then discusses the shape of the portfolio and the transactions undertaken since Isaac Thong became lead manager in May 2025. Milosz points to the fund’s strong outperformance versus the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index over the last five years, and how the company stacks up against the four other funds in the AIC Asia Pacific Equity Income sector. He then focuses on the important changes that were announced last year: the introduction of an enhanced dividend policy and a three-year continuation vote. AAIF’s dividends are now set at 1.5625% of quarter-end NAV and the company is just a couple of years away from joining the select list of the AIC’s dividend heroes, which are companies with at least 20 consecutive years of higher annual dividends. ************************************************************** About 'Uncovering Trusts' Uncovering Trusts is a podcast run by Edison analysts, released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    12 min

  2. FEB 6

    48. Uncovering Trusts – JPMorgan European Discovery Trust (JEDT)

    In this episode, our director of content for investment companies, Milosz Papst, talks about JPMorgan European Discovery Trust (JEDT). He starts by introducing the trust before highlighting why now could be an interesting time to look at the company. Firstly, it invests in an attractively priced asset class that has been out of favour but has delivered strong returns over the long term. Secondly, JEDT’s performance has improved under a relatively new management team. Milosz highlights that the managers seek ‘hidden gems’, which are attractively valued, high-quality companies with the potential to be the large market leaders of tomorrow. Their investment process combines screening, fundamental research and risk management, which includes the use of JPMorgan’s proprietary data systems. Changes have been made to the portfolio to reduce exposure to macroeconomic risk and increase the focus on bottom-up stock selection. Milosz also explains why JEDT’s managers have a positive outlook on European small-cap stocks and what could cause an improvement in sentiment towards this part of the global market. He then moves onto the trust’s portfolio, highlighting some of its structural growth themes and discussing some recent transactions. Milosz provides details on the performance improvement, along with some of the stock contributors. At the end of 2025, JEDT had outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI Europe ex UK Small Cap Index, over the last one and three years. Also, within the three funds in the AIC European Smaller Companies sector, the trust’s NAV total returns now rank first over the last one and three years, and second over the last five years. Milosz concludes by highlighting other features of JEDT, namely its dividend policy, narrowing discount and the use of gearing. ************************************************************** About 'Uncovering Trusts' Uncovering Trusts is a podcast run by Edison analysts, released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    12 min

  3. JAN 7

    47. Uncovering Trusts – Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (EWI): Vote now to keep the trust alive

    In this episode, our director of content, investment companies Milosz Papst talks about Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust. This is a timely podcast as the trust is once again under fire from US-based activist hedge fund Saba Capital Management. Shareholders voted decisively against Saba’s proposals in February 2025 and Edinburgh Worldwide’s board is urging shareholders to do so again. This time round, Saba has amassed a larger stake in the trust and is proposing to replace Edinburgh Worldwide’s board with three of its own representatives but has given no indication about the trust’s future strategy. Timing is tight as the general meeting is scheduled for 12:00 noon on 20 January 2026. The cut-off for submitting votes is 12:00 noon on Saturday 17 January 2026 but for platforms, the date may be as soon as 12 January 2026. Papst provides a brief introduction to Edinburgh Worldwide before highlighting how the board has proactively addressed a period of poor performance. This included enhancing the investment team and meaningful improvements in portfolio construction and execution, such as fewer holdings and stricter measures to address underperforming investments. The portfolio was reshaped to include more profitable, cash-generative companies and to have greater sector diversification. These efforts have led to notably better performance. Attention then returns to the pressing issue of Saba. Edinburgh Worldwide’s board strongly urges all of its shareholders, no matter how large or how small, to vote against Saba’s proposal to take control of the trust in a move that would favour Saba over the trust’s existing shareholders. Saba has not stated its intentions, beyond replacing the board, and has failed to engage, including a lack of response to a list of questions in Edinburgh Worldwide’s open letter on 30 December 2025. ************************************************************** About 'Uncovering Trusts'  Uncovering Trusts is a podcast run by Edison analysts, released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    10 min

  4. 11/25/2025

    46. Uncovering Trusts – Murray International Trust (MYI): A well-established global income trust

    In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst talks about Murray International. This is our first podcast focusing on this large, well-established fund, so he starts by providing an introduction to the company, before highlighting how it differs from its peers in the AIC Global Equity Income sector. Murray International has a notable below-market weight in the US and a meaningful allocation to emerging markets. Discussion then moves onto the investment process, which features Aberdeen’s focus on quality and value, and input from its regional investment teams. He then provides more information about the portfolio, which is broadly diversified by geography and sector. To bring some more colour, he gives some examples of recent transactions, where portfolio activity has been higher than average as Murray International’s managers have found increased opportunities in a volatile market. Attention then turns to the trust’s performance and the change in the company’s reference measure to what is a more relevant MSCI ACWI High Dividend Yield Index given Murray International’s emphasis on income and dividend growth. Papst then highlights the trust’s competitive fee structure and its valuation, before wrapping up with summary of the key takeaways of the Murray International story. *********************************************************** About ‘Uncovering Trusts’ 'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    13 min

  5. 11/04/2025

    45. Uncovering Trusts – BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust (BRLA): Volatility can provide compelling opportunities

    In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst provides an update on BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust. After giving a quick refresher about the company, he discusses the Latin American investment backdrop, where valuations look very attractive. He then highlights the importance of upcoming election cycles, before delving into the managers’ views about the prospects for the region. Discussion then turns to the trust, starting with the stock selection process, where favoured companies tend to be high-quality businesses at reasonable valuations, which may be overlooked by other investors. He then provides information about the portfolio, where the managers are happy to invest in some of the smaller and non-index countries, although it is important to understand that a large part of the portfolio is likely to be made up of Brazilian and Mexican stocks as these two countries make up around 90% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index, which is the trust’s benchmark. He highlights a few of the largest portfolio holdings before discussing performance, which has been positive this year in both absolute and relative terms. To wrap up the podcast, he focuses on the dividend policy, where income is an important element of the trust’s total return objective, and highlights the discount control mechanism, which includes a tender offer based on the trust’s performance and average discount over a four-year period ending 31 December 2025. *********************************************************** About ‘Uncovering Trusts’ 'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    12 min

  6. 10/30/2025

    44. Uncovering Trusts – Invesco Asia Dragon Trust (IAD): A bigger, more efficient version of an already proven formula

    In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst talks about Invesco Asia Dragon Trust, which was recently created following the merger of Invesco Asia Trust with Asia Dragon Trust. He outlines the key benefits to shareholders of the enlarged entity, which retained the successful investment strategy of Invesco Asia Trust. He discusses the trust’s bottom-up, valuation-aware investment approach focused on sustainable business models and attractive valuations. He explains the deep research capability of Invesco’s Asia and emerging markets team. He also outlines the shareholder-friendly measures introduced in conjunction with the merger, including quarterly dividend payments and an unconditional tender every three years. He concludes by summarising the market view of IAD’s managers. *********************************************************** About ‘Uncovering Trusts’ 'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    8 min

  7. 10/09/2025

    43. Uncovering Trusts – Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust (TEMIT): A well-performing 'one-stop-shop' for investment in emerging markets

    In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst discusses Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust, which is by far the UK’s largest emerging markets investment trust. He starts by providing some background to the current emerging markets opportunity. He elaborates on the trust’s strong performance as well as measures announced by the board in June 2024 aimed at improving liquidity in the trust’s shares and increasing shareholders’ potential total returns. He highlights the trust’s recent announcement related to the use of derivatives. He delves deeper into the trust’s investment process and portfolio structure. He provides examples of the trust’s significant portfolio holdings, such as TSMC, ICICI Bank and Tencent, as well as recent additions including Nari Technology and Ather Energy. He concludes by commenting on the trust’s dividends, revenue and special distributable reserves, discount to NAV and gearing. *********************************************************** About ‘Uncovering Trusts’ 'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison:  Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    12 min

  8. 10/03/2025

    42. Uncovering Trusts – Franklin Global Trust: An exciting new chapter in the trust's life

    In this episode, our director of content, investment trusts Milosz Papst provides an update on Franklin Global Trust, which was formerly the Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust and featured in one of our October 2024 podcasts. Martin Currie’s parent Legg Mason was acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments in July 2020, but the brand was only retired earlier this year. The trust’s manager Zehrid Osmani and his team combined with the much larger US-based Franklin Equity Group and Jonathan Curtis was appointed as co-manager. Milosz then discusses Franklin Global Trust’s objective and investment process before explaining what it offers investors. He highlights that the trust is a straightforward equity portfolio with no unlisted businesses or derivatives, and is relatively concentrated, with around 30 holdings. Following on, he discusses the trust’s geographic and sector positioning and some of its larger holdings. He then focuses on performance, which has been disappointing in recent years due to the trust’s focus on growth stocks, which derated in a rising interest rate environment, and also there was insufficient exposure to the ‘Magnificent Seven’ large-cap technology stocks. However, over the longer term, the growth strategy has proved successful and during the dip in performance the managers have made improvements to the investment process. Finally, he discusses the trust’s dividend and its significant distributable reserves, and the zero-discount policy, which means that there are share buybacks on most trading days. *********************************************************** About ‘Uncovering Trusts’ 'Uncovering Trusts': is a podcast run by Edison analysts released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors. About Edison: Edison is a content-led IR business. We believe quality investment content should inform all investors, not just brokers. Our mission: engage and build bigger, better-informed investor audiences for our clients. Edison covers 50+ investment trusts, read about them here: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

    10 min
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Discover the world of investment trusts in the 'Uncovering Trusts' podcast series by Edison Group. Hear from Edison’s analysts and trusts’ management and gain insights into how these trusts, covered by Edison, effectively manage assets to maximize returns, aligning with the risk appetite and diverse requirements of both commercial and retail clients. Edison is a leading investor relations business, operating across all major capital markets. We help create optimal valuations for client stocks, deploying our award-winning combination of intelligent strategic advice, equity research, investor marketing and direct investor engagement. To find out more about investment trust covered by Edison, please visit: https://www.edisongroup.com/equities/investment-companies/

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