JPM Global Growth & Income Investment Trust: November 2026 update

• A well-resourced team with analyst coverage in all corners of the market

• The trust aims to pay dividends equal to 4% of opening net asset value at the start of the financial year

• The trust has performed well since the current managers took over in 2019

How it fits in a portfolio

The JPMorgan Global Growth and Income trust aims to grow your investment over the long term by investing in companies from across the globe. The managers can invest anywhere in the world, including higher-risk emerging markets, but they tend to invest more in developed regions like the US and Europe.

Tapping into all corners of the market, the trust could add diversification to an investment portfolio focused on a single market or act as a building block in a diversified global portfolio.

When investing in closed-ended funds, you should be aware that the trust can trade at a discount or premium to net asset value (NAV).

Manager

The management team is led by Helge Skibeli. He has worked at JPMorgan since 1990 and is a portfolio manager within the International Equity team. He was previously Global Head of Developed Market Equity Research and also spent time leading research in the US and Asia. Skibeli will step down from managing the trust and retire from the industry in February 2028. His responsibilities will transition to James Cook and Sam Witherow, who currently co-manage the trust alongside Skibeli.

Cook became a manager on the trust in 2023. He joined JPMorgan as a graduate trainee in 2007. Before joining the international equity team in 2019, he was a research analyst covering financials.

Witherow joined the trust’s management team in September 2025. His career began at JPMorgan in 2008, and he was previously an analyst for the energy sector before going on to manage a number of income-focused funds.

Process

The managers build a portfolio of high-conviction ideas from across the world. The companies in the trust are some of the analyst team’s best ideas, with a focus on attractively valued companies that are growing their earnings more quickly than peers.

To identify opportunities, the managers use the fundamental company research carried out by JPMorgan’s large in-house analyst team. Analysts are located all over the world and cover 2,500 companies across global stock markets. They often communicate with analysts in other regions that cover the same industries, giving a wider perspective on market dynamics. There’s a focus on cashflows and mid- to long-term earnings when assessing an individual company.

The managers look to build a concentrated portfolio of 50 to 90 stocks. The trust tends to be towards the bottom of that range. They draw on the research done by the analysts, focusing on three key criteria:

A company must have significant upside potential to its earnings.

The team must have a clear understanding of why the company is different to competitors and what gives it an edge over its peers.

The companies must be high quality and trading at attractive valuations.

The trust also commits to paying a dividend totalling 4% of the trust’s NAV at the end of the prior financial year. If income received from investments is below the amount needed to pay the 4% dividend, the trust’s capital reserves will fund the remainder of the dividend. This is a feature of investment trusts that isn’t available to open-ended funds. The investment style used by the managers means that the trust typically generates less dividend income than peers, and it should be expected that the trust will need to make use of this feature to meet their dividend commitment. Paying income from capital means that the trust may have to sell assets in order to fund dividends, which reduces the prospect of future capital growth. The impact of their investment style and use of capital to pay income means that performance can be different to peers in the AIC Global Equity Income sector.

The managers currently find plenty of opportunities in the US, and companies there make up 70% of the trust. This is more than the comparative benchmark. Conversely, less is invested in emerging markets, which comprise 5.4% of the trust. On a sector basis, the trust invests most in technology hardware and media companies.

There were a number of changes to the trust’s investments during the past year, as the managers continue to find opportunities. New investments were made in streaming platform Netflix, Japanese insurer Tokio Marine, and Korea’s Samsung Electronics. The managers also invested in Ventas, a company owning medical and assisted living real estate.

Investments sold during the past year include US retailer Walmart and Chinese e-commerce business Tencent.

The trust has the option to use gearing (borrowing to invest) of up to 20% of net assets, which can improve gains but also increase losses, making it a higher-risk approach. This option isn’t used much, and gearing currently stands at 2.3%.

Culture

JP Morgan is one of the world's largest asset managers. It has investment professionals based all over the world, and the team behind this trust can tap into this experience and local knowledge. The group is home to a strong global offering, and the team is stable, with low turnover among senior members.

The three managers of this trust all have long tenures at JPMorgan, with two spending their whole career to date at the firm. This highlights that the culture at JP Morgan suits the managers of the trust, which we think is important in both their retention and future performance potential.

ESG Integration

JPMorgan committed to integrate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors into its investment processes for active funds in 2016, and ESG is now a foundation for investment decisions across the firm. JP Morgan funds take a variety of different approaches, from quantitively scoring companies on various ESG measures to help with portfolio construction, to more qualitative analysis achieved through fundamental research and company meetings. All fund managers have access to the central Investment Stewardship team, as well as thematic research and analytics, which focus on climate change and carbon transition.

The firm has detailed voting policies, which are specific to each region they invest in and account for local customs. Investment teams and investment stewardship specialists in the relevant region are responsible for implementing those policies, based on their deep knowledge and experience of the country, sector and company. A detailed fund-by-fund and company-by-company voting record is available on the JPMorgan website, although voting rationale is not provided. Fund managers also regularly engage with the companies they invest in, and there are a number of case studies on the company’s website and in its annual Investment Stewardship report.

Although ESG is integrated across the firm, this trust doesn’t have a responsible investing mandate.

Cost

The trust's ongoing annual charge in the year to 30 June 2026 was 0.44%. This is an increase from 0.39% the previous year, when the trust waived some fees following its merger with Henderson International Income Trust. Investors should refer to the latest annual reports and accounts and Key Information Document for details of the risks and charging structure.

The annual charge to hold investment trusts in the HL ISA, SIPP, or Fund & Share Account is 0.35% (capped at £150 p.a. in each account) and 0.25% in the HL Lifetime ISA (capped at £45 p.a.). There are no charges from HL to hold investment trusts within the HL Junior ISA. Both the buy and sell instruction will be subject to the HL share dealing charges.

Performance

The trust has performed well since Skibeli became manager in March 2019, returning 153.7%* in share price terms. This is compared to 141.2% for the trust’s MSCI ACWI benchmark and the AIC Global Equity Income sector average of 48.9%. During this time, the NAV rose 162.4%. Past performance isn’t a guide to the future.

In the trust’s most recent financial year, to the end of June 2026, NAV rose 16.7% and its share price returned 15.1%. This was behind the 27.7% growth of the index but ahead of the average trust in the sector, which returned 2.1%.

Investments in technology were among those to detract from returns, as the market focused on a small number of companies at the centre of global artificial intelligence (AI) developments. Microsoft and Sony were among the companies to weigh on the trust’s performance. On the other hand, an investment in Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML contributed positively.

Healthcare companies also contributed positively, with Johnson & Johnson performing well as its pharmaceutical pipeline expanded. Other investments to contribute include oil & gas services company Baker Hughes and industrials leasing business United Rentals.

At the time of writing, the trust trades at a discount of 1.1%, compared to an average of 2.7% over the past 12 months. The trust currently yields 3.9%, although income isn’t guaranteed and yields aren’t a reliable indication of future income.