Diverse Income Trust plc (LON:DIVI) Co-Fund Manager Gervais Williams was interviewed by DirectorsTalk on the performance of the Trust in 2025 and insights on key portfolio holdings, including opportunities in gold, gas, and technology sectors.
Q1: Gervais, how has the Diverse Income Trust plc (LON:DIVI) performed in 2025, and how does it measure up against the wider FTSE, AIM, and US stock markets?
A1: It’s been quite an interesting year, of course, it’s been a good year. Equities have done pretty well but it’s been quite a wobbly year. We had that big wobble, if you remember, in April, with the uncertainty about new tariffs being introduced by the US.
What’s been interesting about it subsequently is global markets have recovered, UK markets well up, and actually the Diverse Income Trust has also performed extremely strongly. So, we’re up to an NAV of around 114 pence at the moment and the wobble back in April it got down to 88p, so that’s quite a nice recovery.
More importantly, the income’s come through, and the Trust itself has outperformed just about all the different indices, the FTSE 100, the AIM All-Share Index, and indeed most of the US indices as well.
Q2: Have you made any changes to the portfolio? What areas have done particularly well?
A2: We’re always doing some changes, but actually the core positioning hasn’t changed very much.
We’ve been taking the view that global growth will be fine, but we’re not excited about extra growth, particularly with a very wide-ranging portfolio, if you remember, not just invested in many mainstream companies, but also have quite a big exposure in some of those capital-intensive sectors which produce good income. That includes certain financials, which have done extremely well this year, not just the banks, but some of the life insurance companies.
It’s also had some miners; mining has been very strong, particularly gold mining. The Trust has quite a few gold miners and they’ve done extremely well. If anything, we’ve taken a few profits in that area.
Gervais also answered questions on a number of stocks in the DIVI portfolio which are outlined in the separate articles below:
Fund manager interview on Diversified Energy – US gas, fantastic yield and growing US base (LON:DEC)
Diversified Energy Company plc (LON:DEC) is a gas and oil production company operating in the Appalachian Basin and the Central Region in the United States.
CMC Markets plc (LON:CMCX) is a UK-based financial services company that offers online trading in shares, spread betting, contracts for difference and foreign exchange across world markets.
Victorian Plumbing Group “in stronger position with extra capacity” says fund manager (LON:VIC)
Victorian Plumbing plc (LON:VIC) is the UK’s leading online retailer of bathroom products and accessories, offering a one-stop shop solution for the entire bathroom.
Record plc services becoming “much more valuable” explains upbeat DIVI fund manager (LON:REC)
Record plc (LON:REC) is a United Kingdom-based specialist currency and asset manager. The Company is engaged in offering bespoke products to global investors.
Atalaya Mining Mining Copper S.A. (LON:ATYM) is a European copper producer focused on providing society with the essential raw materials required for economic growth and the energy transition.
Thor Explorations Ltd (LON:THX) is a West African focussed gold producer. ince the completion of its 100% owned Segilola Gold Mine, located in south-west Nigeria.
