Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 10 October 2025

Investment trusts, due to their closed-ended structure, offer investors the chance of picking up a potential bargain. Such an opportunity arises when a trust’s share price is lower than the underlying investments held by the trust (the net asset value, or NAV).   

However, a trust trading on a discount to NAV is not necessarily a buying opportunity. There’s likely a good reason why the trust is cheap, such as subdued short- or long-term performance, or poor investor sentiment towards how it invests.   

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In our weekly series, interactive investor highlights the 10 biggest investment trust discount moves over the past week.

In total, nearly 400 investment trusts have been screened, with the data sourced from Morningstar. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have been excluded. We also strip out trusts with less than £30 million in assets and those that are not available on the interactive investor platform. 

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Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust (LSE:BGCG) and JPMorgan China Growth & Income (LSE:JCGI) both feature in this week’s table, in first and third. Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust’s discount has risen by nearly nine percentage points to -16.9%, while JPMorgan China Growth & Income’s discount is over five percentage points higher, reaching -15.3%.

Over one year country-specialist funds and investment trusts providing exposure to the world’s second largest economy have produced eye-catching returns, with Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust up 50.8%. This is ahead of JPMorgan China Growth & Income, up 31.7%, but below the return of 55.5% achieved by Fidelity China Special Situations (LSE:FCSS).

Five-year returns, however, have been lacklustre for the trio, reflecting the challenging period of investing in China. Fidelity China Special Situations has just about held its head above water, up 4.4%, while JPMorgan China Growth & Income and Baillie Gifford China Growth have posted heavy losses of -21.6% and -31.7%.

Over the past year or so, China’s stock market has been buoyed by more business-friendly signals and stimulus from government, as well as improved relations in US-China trade negotiations. In turn, this has renewed global investors’ interest, which has helped boost the region’s share prices. Fidelity China Special Situations is trading on a smaller discount of -9.1%.

In second place is a case study of the dangers of buying a trust on a high premium. In May 2019, global portfolio Lindsell Train (LSE:LTI), managed by Nick Train, was trading on a premium of 85%. Today, it is trading on a discount of -32.2%, having seen its discount widen by just over seven percentage points over the past week.

In the past, Train has warned investors against buying his own investment trust when it was trading on a high premium. He has also previously cautioned against buying when the premium is over 20%.

It’s generally not a good idea to buy a trust on a high premium because it tends not to be sustainable over the long term and can turn into a discount when an investment style goes out of favour or if investor sentiment cools towards the area of the market it invests in.

Source: Morningstar. *Data from close of trading 2 October to 9 October 2025.