Ian Cowie: the winners and losers in my ‘forever fund’ in Q1 2026
Twelve out of 21 investment trusts held by our columnist were in positive territory in the first quarter of 2026. Here, he runs through the best and worst performers.
9th April 2026 11:14
by Ian Cowie from interactive investor
Extraordinary global news produced extremes of good and bad performance by the investment trusts in my forever fund during the first quarter (Q1) of this year. Two funds plunged nearly 20% lower while another soared 25% higher during the three months to the end of March.
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Solid corporate earnings propelled most share prices upward in January and February before war in Iran destroyed confidence and £1,000 in the average investment trust was worth just £963 by the finish of this period. On a brighter note, diversification across a wide range of assets meant 12 of my 21 investment trusts delivered a positive return in Q1.
But I know that some of you enjoy my pratfalls more than my profits and so let’s start with the stinkers. Most surprisingly, my longest-held fund, where I have owned shares for 30 years, did worst of all.
The laggards
Step forward JPMorgan India Growth & Income (LSE:JIGI) which shrank £1,000 into just £809 during the last three months. India Capital Growth (LSE:IGC), a medium-sized and smaller companies specialist in the subcontinent, wasn’t much better, finishing Q1 with just £812 on the same basis.
The world’s largest democracy and fourth-largest economy was hit by extreme tariffs on goods exported to America as a punishment for having bought oil from Russia. These taxes had soared as high as 50% last year before the Indian president, Narendra Modi, promised to stop buying Russian oil in February and the American president, Donald Trump, trimmed tariffs to 18%.
Sad to say, investor confidence is damaged more quickly and dramatically than it can be restored. However, JIGI was my very first ten-bagger or stock whose price soared by 10 times or more after I paid 63p per share in June 1996, for what was called Fleming Indian back then and traded at 827p this week.
Call me sentimental, if you like, but I have no intention of selling any JIGI or IGC because I believe the long-term growth story for this country and these shares remains intact. Both funds’ recent decision to begin paying dividends, with JIGI yielding 5.4% and IGC aiming for 2% of net asset value (NAV) from October onwards, will pay me to be patient. Both funds are priced below their NAVs, trading at discounts of nearly 12% and 14% respectively, which is another reason to hang on in hope.
However, I must admit to getting fed up with sickly returns from Worldwide Healthcare (LSE:WWH), which was my third-worst performer during Q1; ending the period with £890 from an initial value of £1,000. This is another long-term holding, where I transferred shares from a paper-based broker at 135p in March 2014, allowing for a subsequent 10-for-one share split. They traded at 344p this week. A negligible yield of 0.7% offers meagre comfort and a -8.7% discount does not look like much of a bargain after its former star fund manager, Sam Isaly, left under a cloud nearly a decade ago.
The winners
At the other end of the performance spectrum, Ecofin Global Utilities & Infrastructure (LSE:EGL) was my third-best fund during Q1; ending the period with £1,109 on the same basis as above. This self-descriptive investment trust, whose top holding is National Grid, the electricity distributor, benefited from all forms of energy prices being pushed higher by restricted supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), after the Iran War closed the Strait of Hormuz.
EGL’s 3.3% dividend yield, rising by an annual average of 5.2% over the last five years, was another reason to be cheerful. This is now the eighth-most valuable holding in my forever fund and, priced 7.3% below NAV, I intend to buy more.
BlackRock Latin American (LSE:BRLA) was second-best in Q1 as it gained from Chinese demand for hard and soft commodities being displaced from the USA by trade and tariffs wars. BRLA ended the period with £1,132 and continues to yield 4.8% dividend income while priced 6.8% below NAV.
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LSE:SSIT) soared into the stratosphere with an eye-stretching £1,250 in just three months. More than three quarters of Seraphim’s NAV is invested in defence-related space technology and two thirds of the total is based in Europe, including the United Kingdom.
So it is enjoying a ‘double whammy’ of benefits from bad news elsewhere, with Trump threatening to disengage from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, prompting a rush to re-arm in Europe. Seraphim shares I bought for 53p in March last year traded at 176p on Thursday and it is now my third-most valuable holding, having recently overtaken my long-standing stake in McDonald’s, the world’s biggest fast food business.
Nick Britton, a director of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), said: “The average investment trust had a strong start to the year but a miserable March. The net result was a 4% loss over the first quarter of 2026.
“North America, India and Europe all saw significant falls. However, Asian and emerging markets trusts provided some helpful diversification, generating modest gains over the quarter.”
In such extremely uncertain times, diversification to diminish risk, while obtaining exposure to growth and income wherever they arise, looks more important than ever.
Ian Cowie is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of interactive investor.
Ian Cowie is a shareholder in BlackRock Latin American (BRLA), Ecofin Global Utilities and Infrastructure (EGL), India Capital Growth (IGC), JPMorgan Indian Growth and Income (JIGI), McDonald’s (MCD), Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) and Worldwide Healthcare (WWH) as part of a globally-diversified portfolio of investment trusts and other shares..
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