Your vote counts: investment trust AGMs in December 2025

December might be the time for Christmas celebrations, Santa rallies and the build up to the new year, but it’s also the time for investment trust AGMs, with a total of 28 happening during the Yuletide month.

This means the investment trusts on the slate for December represent a wide range of sectors, from global emerging markets, through India and Vietnam, to UK equity income, flexible investment and leasing.

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Below, we have highlighted some of the key votes going on during the month below.

Fidelity Emerging Markets

Emerging markets have been a standout performer so far this year, benefiting from a still-nascent recovery in Chinese stocks as well as a weakening US dollar – and that’s despite having to contend with US tariffs. The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF $Dis GBP (LSE:VFEM) has returned 17.4% from the start of 2025 (to 27 November 2025), versus a 10.7% return from the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA).

The backdrop for the AGM of Fidelity Emerging Markets Ord (LSE:FEML), then, is positive, particularly when you consider that over the same period as the above performance, FEML has delivered a share price total return of 44.9%.

Shareholders will be asked to re-elect the board of directors and give the board renewed authority to buy back, or issue new shares.

It’s the final AGM until a performance-related tender offer kicks in. Should FEML’s net asset value (NAV) total return fail to exceed its MSCI Emerging Markets Index benchmark in the five years to 30 September 2026, shareholders will be able to cash in 25% of their investment at close to NAV.

To 26 November 2025, FEML was narrowly ahead of its benchmark, by 1.51 percentage points, providing a bit of a buffer should the trust underperform from here, particularly with FEML currently on a circa 10% discount.

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Ashoka India Equity

One country that has done less well recently is India, where returns have flattened out after a strong run in the longer term. Indeed, in pound sterling terms, the MSCI India IMI Index has returned 88% in the five years to 26 November 2025 versus a return of 27% from the broader emerging market complex. Yet, while the 12-month return for broad emerging markets is 22.5%, the MSCI India IMI Index is down 6%.

Smaller Indian companies have done much worse than this in share price terms, which has dragged on recent returns from Ashoka India Equity Investment Ord (LSE:AIE), yet the trust’s long-term performance remains unparalleled. AIE’s share price total return since it launched in 2018 has been 168%, versus 107% for the MSCI India IMI Index and 55% for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Again, the key votes here will be the re-election of the board of directors. Since launch, AIE has traded more often on a premium than a discount, meaning the trust has managed to grow its assets by around 10 times, from £46 million when it was launched to £467 million today.

Schroder Income Growth

Schroder Income Growth Ord (LSE:SCF) hit a key milestone in its most recent financial year, joining an elite club of 15 investment trusts that have increased their dividends for 30 consecutive years or more.

In fact, SCF has grown its dividend every year since its first full financial year in 1996. Since then, the dividend has grown 4.1% on an annualised basis, versus annualised inflation of 2.5%, equating to real annual growth of 1.6%, helping to grow shareholders’ purchasing power.

Again, shareholders will get to vote on the re-election of board members and giving the board permission to renew its share buyback authority.

Moving forward, SCF has been a beneficiary of the rising number of share buybacks within the UK market. In its most recent financial year, 67% of SCF’s companies by portfolio value conducted buybacks, up from 38% in its 2023 financial year.

While some believe this may provide a modest headwind for UK equity income mandates as cash that may otherwise have been used for special dividends gets re-routed to buybacks, SCF stands in a good position, with its total distributable reserves as of 31 August 2025 including capital reserves of £208.5 million and revenue reserves of £7.6 million.