Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: May 2026

Investment trusts with a focus on tech and other “growth” assets have continued to draw the crowds in the last month.

Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT), the flagship Baillie Gifford trust with a focus on companies (private and public) that target promising themes, has retained the top spot for the third month in a row when it comes to buys from ii customers.

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But it’s certainly not alone when it comes to what we might loosely term “growth” funds. Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT),  which backs the tech majors in the US and beyond, moves up to second place, while its rival Allianz Technology Trust Ord (LSE:ATT) enters the table in seventh place.

Both have posed blistering share price total returns in the last 12 months, with PCT on 117.9% and ATT on 87.2%.

Asian and emerging market shares have raced ahead on the back of the artificial trade (AI) as of late, and PCT’s ability to capture this partly explains why it’s currently well ahead of many other tech funds.

Around 63% of the PCT portfolio is in the US and Canada, with 17.9% in the Asia-Pacific region. Top holdings include NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:TSM), Samsung Electronics Co Ltd DR (LSE:SMSN), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) and Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC).

Our data, which excludes regular investing and gives a sense of the more tactical buys ii customers have made in the last month, shows that other funds with plenty of exposure to the US and to the Magnificent Seven shares were popular too.

Take JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI), which enters the table in eighth place, as one example.

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This is a flexible fund that seeks to straddle different investment styles but it has had plenty of exposure to classic growth companies in recent history, with its top 10 list including Nvidia, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), TSMC, Mastercard Inc Class A (NYSE:MA) and Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META), alongside the likes of Shell (LSE:SHEL), Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) and NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE). Around 69% of the fund is in US-listed companies.

Meanwhile, F&C Investment Trust Ord (LSE:FCIT) continues to sit in the lower echelons of our bestseller list. 

This global fund diversifies heavily and doesn’t stray too far from the FTSE All World index in terms of what it holds, meaning plenty of US tech among other things. It’s most notable trait, bar its diversification, might be an 11.4% allocation to private equity.

Meanwhile, another form of growth fund remains popular, in the form of Seraphim Space Investment Trust Ord (LSE:SSIT). 

The two big themes driving its returns (space and defence) continue to generate plenty of excitement, and last month we saw the fund raise £137 million for new investments via its C share issuance. 

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The fund should also be able to generate cash via, for example, the bid for major holding All.Space and, if desirable, by selling shares in the freshly IPO-ed Hawkeye 360 Inc (NYSE:HAWK) once a six-month lock-up period comes to an end.

As our table shows, the trust’s main shares are sitting on some massive returns and that is reflected in the price, with them trading at a roughly 75% premium to net asset value (NAV).

Not all about growth

Last month we pointed to the fact that while growth investment trusts had been popular in April, so had those with big yields and “cheap” shares. Both trends have continued in May.

On the subject of “cheap”, 3i Group Ord (LSE:III) endured yet another painful sell-off in May in response to an update detailing further woes for its main holding, discount retailer Action. 

The company continues to see its sales growth weaken in France, with conflict in the Middle East only worsening things. As we have seen in the past, investors have used the share price tumble as a buying opportunity.

A regular of our monthly list, and one that will appeal to income investors and bargain hunters alike, is Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW).

Not much has changed here: the sector remains somewhat in the doldrums and continues to see plenty of merger and acquisition activity, with Bluefield Solar Income Fund (LSE:BSIF) this morning noting that it had received a bid.

It’s likely that UKW continues to appeal to investors thanks to its 24% share price discount to NAV and a share price dividend yield in excess of 10%.

Equity income also continues to appear in the list. We have already touched on JGGI, which uses an enhanced dividend policy and pays out 4% of NAV each year, but two more conventional income funds sit in the list.

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There’s Henderson Far East Income Ord (LSE:HFEL), which currently yields around 9.2% and is so popular that its shares trade on a modest premium to NAV.

We often lament the fact that this trust tends to generate weaker total returns than its rivals, meaning investors are sacrificing overall performance in the name of a big yield. But it has still benefited from the powerful rally in Asia, with shareholders making a total return of around 36% over 12 months.

Meanwhile, another income favourite, City of London Ord (LSE:CTY), maintains its presence in the list. CTY shares also trade on a premium, likely a testament both to the fund’s strong performance and to its lengthy record of dividend increases.

Exiting the list are Temple Bar Ord (LSE:TMPL), another strong performer from the UK equity income world, and Renewables Infrastructure Grp (LSE:TRIG).

The latter has started to look like a takeover target on the back of its botched merger attempt with HICL Infrastructure PLC Ord (LSE:HICL) last year. 

It issued an update in May where the board stressed its “high conviction” in the fund’s medium-term prospects, while unveiling plans to raise £400 million over 12 months, mainly via asset sales.

Those proceeds should be used to complete a programme of share buybacks, reduce debt, make internal investments and free up “surplus liquidity”.

Top 10 most-popular investment trusts in May

Source: FE. The top 10 is based on the number of buys in May. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.