Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 18 July 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 £20 million in assets and those that are not available on the interactive investor platform. 

Two sectors stood out in this week’s Discount Delver list: Growth Capital and UK Property trusts.

Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust and Schiehallion Fund saw their discounts widen about three percentage points each, to -31.4% and -21.3% discounts respectively.

The Schroders’ trust was formerly called the Schroder UK Public Private Trust. Schroders took over the vehicle from Woodford Investment Management in December 2019, where it was known as Woodford Patient Capital Trust. It is being wound down, with the assets sold off and capital returned to shareholders.

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Schiehallion Fund is run by Baillie Gifford and owns unlisted, fast-growing companies, including SpaceX, ByteDance and Databricks.

Two Commercial UK Property trusts made the list: AEW UK Reit and Life Science Reit. Their discounts widened about two percentage points each and they now trade on -0.4% and -44.9% discounts.

AEW UK Reit owns a portfolio of high-yielding commercial properties across the UK, while Life Science Reit owns science labs in London, Cambridge and Oxford. The yields are 7.37% and 2.38% respectively.

Other trusts featuring in the table that invest in unlisted assets were Gore Street Energy Storage Fund, NB Distressed Debt Inv Extended Life, LMS Capital and Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust Ord.

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The investment trust structure, where the shares are listed and offer instant liquidity, but the underlying assets are a permanent capital base, means that trusts are a good vehicle for owning illiquid assets.

However, this can lead to periods where the share price can diverge from the net asset value of the portfolio, leading to wide discounts, or less frequently, premiums.

This means that trusts can offer regular investors access to hard-to-reach sectors, such as private debt (NB Distressed Debt Inv Extended Life), property (AEW UK REIT Ord and Life Science REIT Ord) and energy storage (Gore Street Energy Storage Fund Ord).

LMS Capital saw its discount widen 6.2 percentage points over the past week to a -56.4% discount.

This trust invests in a range of assets and underlying funds, including retirement homes, venture capital funds and oil and gas companies.

Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust invests in assets that can deliver a positive social impact, such as renewable energy and housing. It is on a -28% discount.

The final trust in this week’s Discount Delver list was Geiger Counter. On a -11% discount, it invests in companies involved in uranium and nuclear power.

Source: Source: Morningstar. *Data from close of trading 10 July 2025 to 17 July 2025.