Investment Week reveals winners of Investment Company of the Year Awards 2023

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The awards recognise managers in this important part of the market, who have delivered consistently for investors across a variety of sectors.

Investment Week‘s host for the awards ceremony on 16 November was financial journalist and presenter Declan Curry, while our charity for the evening was Place2Be.

Methodology

The shortlists for the awards were constructed using scores provided by the AIC, using Morningstar data. Investment companies needed a three-year track record to 30 June 2023 to be shortlisted and a market cap of £50m or above.

Within each sector, companies had their cumulative fair NAV returns calculated over three discrete periods in sterling terms. Returns over the 12 months to 30 June 2023 were given a 40% weighting, the 12 months to 30 June 2022 were given a 30% weighting, while the 12 months to 30 June 2021 accounted for 20% of the overall score. The final 10% weight was given to the full cumulative NAV return over the three years to 30 June 2023.   

These scores were added to give a single score out of 100, the highest of which were considered for the shortlists, with oversight from our judging panel.   

Winners were then chosen by our judging panel after heated debate during our judging sessions, where qualitative factors were also considered.   

The judging panel for the awards included some of the UK’s leading researchers and investors in investment companies.   

Against a challenging backdrop, our judges this year were keen to highlight consistent performers who have managed to navigate turbulent market conditions. Discount management was a major focus this year, as well as effective communications with investors and use of the investment company structure.    

Special Awards

Investment Week also presented individual awards on the night, including Rising Star of the Year, which was sponsored by the AIC.

This year’s winner was Georgiana Bennett from Barclays Wealth Management, who was recognised for helping managers communicate with clients and advisers in an easily accessible way. She has also pushed groups to up their game on ESG and reporting, as well as implemented a project to improve the transparency of VCT portfolio valuations.

Finally, the Jackie Beard Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry was awarded to Bruce Stout from abrdn. 

The judges wanted to give this special award this year to an investment trust stalwart. Stout is set to retire at the end of June 2024 after over 35 years in investment management and 20 years as lead manager on the Murray International trust, where the judges said he has done a good job for investors. In particular, they highlighted his vocal support for the investment trust sector during his long career.

For more information on the awards, click here

Winners of the Investment Company of the Year Awards 2023

UK All Companies

Winner: Fidelity Special Values PLC

UK Income

Winner: Law Debenture Corporation p.l.c

UK Smaller Companies

Winner: Odyssean Investment Trust plc

Asia Pacific

Winner: The Pacific Assets Trust plc

Europe

Winner: JPMorgan European Growth & Income plc

Global 

Winner: Alliance Trust 

H/C: AVI Global Trust

Overseas Income 

Winner: JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Investment Trust

Overseas Smaller Companies

Winner: Fidelity Asian Values PLC 

Emerging Markets

Winner: BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust plc

Single Country

Winner: Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust PLC

Flexible

Winner: Caledonia Investments plc

Private Equity & Growth Capital

Joint winner: CT Private Equity Trust PLC

Joint winner: Oakley Capital Investments 

Debt

Winner: Fair Oaks Income 

Property

Winner: AEW UK REIT plc

Biotechnology & Healthcare

Winner: Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust plc (PCGH)

Commodities & Resources

Winner: BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust plc

Infrastructure

Winner: 3i Infrastructure plc

Renewable Energy Infrastructure

Winner: Greencoat UK Wind plc

Specialist

Winner: Allianz Technology Trust PLC

H/C: Impax Environmental Markets plc

VCT Generalist

Winner: British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc

H/C: Foresight VCT

VCT Specialist

Winner: Unicorn AIM VCT plc

Group of the Year

Winner: Schroders

Rising Star of the Year Award

Winner: Georgiana Bennett, Barclays Wealth Management

Jackie Beard Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry

Winner: Bruce Stout, abrdn

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