According to the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), the top-performing Investment Trusts so far in 2025 were primarily in the European Smaller Companies sector, with an average return of 7%. However, if we drill down into the details, the top performers were DP Aircraft 1 from the Leasing sector (up 108%), followed by Gresham House Energy Storage from the Renewable Energy Infrastructure sector (up 71%).[1]

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[1] Association of Investment Companies, July 2025.

It all comes down to Investment Trusts' ability to reserve income during the good times, to help boost dividends during the bad times. Unlike other types of fund, trusts are permitted to reserve up to 15% of the dividends they make from their underlying investments every year, stashing it away to be used if and when they need to supplement shareholders' earnings. Some trusts have built a reputation as part of the Association of Investment Companies' (AIC) 'Dividend Heroes', recognised for increasing their dividend payments year-on-year.

There's no hard and fast rule as to how many Investment Trusts you should be incorporating into your portfolio, but for a balanced and diversified set of investments, it's generally recommended that you have between 5 to 10 funds, trusts or ETFs. Each of these will typically have at least 20 underlying companies in them, so if you bought 10 Investment Trusts, you'd be investing in around 200 shares in total - spreading your investment risk but still keeping it all manageable with just 10 overarching trusts to keep an eye on.

The Dividend Heroes are an elite group of Investment Trusts which have been recognised by the AIC for consistently paying out dividends for 20 or more years in a row. Among the five trusts at the top of the list include City of London Investment Trust, Bankers Investment Trust, Alliance Witan, Caledonia Investments and The Global Smaller Companies Trust.

Like other types of fund, Investment Trusts are traded on the stock market, so to buy one you'll need to use either a stockbroker, an online investment platform, or - if you know exactly what you're looking for - you can even go directly to your chosen Investment Trust. Many trusts don't charge the trading fees you would otherwise pay for a broker or a platform, but you'll of course be limited in your choices if you do it this way. Otherwise, expect to pay a trading fee (typically around 0.65% p.a.), plus the usual 0.5% stamp duty charged on shares, and possibly further fees on top.