Europe, Thailand and biotech: The best investment trusts of 2012

Smaller company focused investment trusts were the big winners in 2012, with many seeing NAV gains of 20% or more, spurred on by the strong performance of the FTSE Small Cap (ex IC) index.

Since the beginning of the year the index has returned 28.55%, substantially outperforming large caps, while the FTSE 100 delivered 6.5% over the same period. A number of closed-ended funds, including Henderson Smaller Companies and Aberforth Smaller Companies, have benefited from the small-cap bull run. However, top of the pile in terms of NAV performance is the Aberdeen New Thai trust, run by the group’s Asian equities team. The trust has profited from Thailand’s explosive performance in 2012, with the Stock Exchange of Thailand index delivering a 30% return year-to-date. Thai...