Monthly Roundup: Scottish Mortgage gains, best ISA providers and the resolution of a bidding war

Join Jo Groves, Ryan Lightfoot-Aminoff and David Brenchley from Kepler Trust Intelligence for a roundup of all the news that matters to investment trust investors in August, brought to you in association with Schroders.

In news, Ryan analyses the outcome of the Gore Street Energy EGM, and how much traction RM funds made with their proposals. Sticking with corporate activity, he then discusses the outcome of the bidding war for Warehouse REIT’s assets, including a missed opportunity for a revealing auction process. Elsewhere, we discuss the management changes at Pacific Assets, before finishing with news from Scottish Mortgage, and what implications the value jump in a private holding could have.

In results, David runs the rule over Greencoat UK Wind’s mixed set, which managed to maintain dividend growth, despite challenging conditions. However, could the sale of two assets prove the value of the portfolio? Next, Jo begins the reviews of our podcasts by summarising her conversation with Ailsa Craig on the biotechnology sector. Discussion varied from the impact of the GLP-1 drugs to how biotech has fared this year, especially under the threat of Trump’s drug pricing policies.

Next, David provides an overview of his chat with Charlotte Yonge of Troy, where they discussed the capital preservation approach of the Personal Assets trust. As well as the usual discussion on allocations and performance, David also summarises Charlotte’s charity work.

Following this, Jo returns to provide a summary of Richard’s Sennitt’s take on Asia, including changes to his long-standing overweight to tech, and which country he sees as a vital financial hub.

Summarising our regular blogs, David looks at the most bought trusts which, whilst having a familiar look to it, could begin to change with an interesting study on AI profitability.

Finally, Jo pulls out the key points from our recent piece on the best stocks and shares ISA providers to see who rules the roost. Meanwhile, the tables are turned on David and Ryan, who reveal the reasons behind the choices they made in picking their ISA platform.

00:00 Introduction

00:21 What’s to come

01:07 Update on Gore Street

02:59 Warehouse resolution

04:25 Manager changes at PAC

05:18 Scottish Mortgage values

07:30 UKW results

09:38 Highlights from IBT

11:27 Summary of Charlotte Yonge

13:16 Highlights from SOI

14:44 Most popular shares & trusts

16:51 Best ISA providers

18:05 David & Ryan’s ISA picks

20:38 Risk warning

Special thanks to our sponsors at Schroders, whose support makes this podcast possible - click here to view all of our research on the Schroders investment trust range.

This podcast was recorded on 16/09/2025.