Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 20 February 2026

Investment trusts offer investors the chance of picking up a potential bargain thanks to their closed-ended structure. Such an opportunity arises when a trust’s share price is lower than the value of its underlying investments (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 it.

• Invest with ii: Buy Investment Trusts | Top UK Shares | Open a Trading Account

In this weekly series, interactive investor highlights the 10 biggest investment trust discount moves over the past week. Note that this time we have covered the period from 11 to 18 February.

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.

Uranium, renewables and HGT get ‘cheaper’

Uranium play Geiger Counter Ord (LSE:GCL) has seen its discount extend in the last week, with the renewable energy infrastructure trusts also continuing to reach seemingly cheaper valuations.

The uranium price has advanced significantly in the last year, with companies in the sector enjoying big share price gains.

Geiger Counter has duly performed extremely strongly, with the shares having returned around 72% over the 12 months to 18 February and around 25% so far in 2026. The discount on its shares crept into double-digit territory over the last few days, if without an obvious catalyst.

The fund could be a volatile one, given both its specific area of focus and the sheer concentration of the portfolio. Top holding Nextgen Energy accounts for around a quarter of the fund alone.

• Uranium: your questions answered
• Uranium: industry dynamics investors should know

Meanwhile, renewable energy infrastructure funds are well represented in the table once again, with NextEnergy Solar Ord (LSE:NESF), Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Ord (LSE:ORIT), Aquila Energy Efficiency Trust Ord (LSE:AEET), Aquila European Renewables Ord (LSE:AERI) and Foresight Environmental Infra Ord (LSE:FGEN) all in the table. Just one of these has had any major news in recent days.

An update from NextEnergy Solar pointed out that portfolio NAV had fallen from 88.8p a share to 84.9p over the fourth quarter of 2025. The board, meanwhile, promised that a strategic review was “progressing well”, with a comprehensive update due next month.

Investors are well acquainted with the problems facing the sector, from the government switching the inflation linkage on certain subsidies from RPI to the lower CPI, to shifts in power prices and lower wind speeds, and we regularly see renewable trusts in Discount Delver.

Having said that, both NextEnergy Solar and Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) are names that remain popular among ii customers, likely thanks to a combination of high yields and wide discounts.

HgCapital: back on the radar

HgCapital Trust Ord (LSE:HGT), the private equity trust that topped our table a couple of weeks ago in the midst of the software sell-off, returns to the list.

The trust, which sought to reassure investors about its prospects and launched a share buyback programme in the wake of the sell-off, has seen a couple of small developments in the last week.

Valhalla Ventures, which was the majority owner of private equity-focused data provider Prequin until March 2025, this week announced that it had increased its stake in HGT to 6.4%.

• Insider: FTSE 100 directors spot bargains after AI sell-off
• Sign up to our free newsletter for investment ideas, latest news and award-winning analysis

Valhalla’s stated focus is on fast-growing data and technology companies and private equity, as well as “helping start-ups and young companies achieve scale and leadership in their markets”.

We also saw analysts at Investec downgrade their rating of HGT from a “buy” to “hold” on 18 February.

A couple of weeks earlier the same analysts had called a “buy”, arguing that the trust’s shares looked oversold. With the shares having recovered strongly since, they return to a “hold” stance.

Source: Morningstar, close of trading 11 February to 18 February 2026.