Widely cited study showing investment trust superiority abandoned

Jonathan Davis, in his Investment Trusts Handbook 2020, notes: “[The cessation of the study] doesn’t invalidate the belief that investment trusts tend to outperform open-ended funds with similar mandates… but nor does it provide the clinching evidence that would have given the belief a stamp of academic endorsement.”

Other data also purport to show that investment trusts can often provide better performance. For example, data recently released by AJ Bell shows that over the past 10 years, three out of four investment trusts beat the open-ended versions run by the same manager.