The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has published a list of the investment trusts that received the most views on its website in 2024, with income being an “overarching theme”.

More than half (11) of the 20 most viewed investment trusts in 2024 were ‘AIC dividend heroes’, which were trusts that have increased their dividends for at least 20 years in a row.

Another five trusts in the top 20 had increased their dividends for at least 10 years but less than 20.

Nine of the top 20 were from the equity income sectors, with five focused on UK equities, three on global equities, and one on Asia Pacific equities.

The average yield of the trusts in AIC’s top 20 was 3.9 per cent, 0.6 percentage points higher than the 3.3 per cent for the average investment trust.

Six investment trusts were in the global sector, five in UK equity income, and three in the global equity income sector.

The other sectors that appeared on the AIC’s top 20 were renewable energy infrastructure, UK all companies, North America, commodities & natural resources, and flexible investment.

The AIC revealed that the JPMorgan Global Growth & Income, which is managed by Helge Skibeli, James Cook and Timothy Woodhouse, was the most viewed trust and had a share price total return of 19.8 per cent in 2024 and yields 3.8 per cent.

City of London in the UK equity sector was the second most viewed trust in 2024, after being the most viewed for the previous two years in a row, and delivered a share price total return of 10.6 per cent in 2024 and yields 4.8 per cent.

Rounding out the top five in order were Alliance Witan, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, and Murray International Trust.

There were three new entrants to the AIC’s top 20 this year that were not in 2023’s list: Pershing Square (14th), Mercantile Investment Trust (19th), and AVI Global Trust (20th).

“With banks adjusting the rates on cash savings downwards, it’s no surprise that investment trusts with long track records of dividend growth continued to be popular with investors last year,” commented AIC communications director, Annabel Brodie-Smith.

“One of the key benefits of investment trusts is their ability to pay dividend income to investors even during tough times. However, it’s important to remember that dividends are never guaranteed.

“The AIC’s website provides investors with helpful investment trust information, from portfolio holdings to performance and discount data to enable investors to easily compare and choose trusts.

“Investors can readily access all the factsheets and annual reports without having to spend valuable time sifting through multiple web pages.”

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