The four most recommended trusts

The platforms we surveyed were Bestinvest, Charles Stanley Direct and Hargreaves Lansdown. While a number of companies publish lists of funds they rate as potential 'buys', often these are limited to open-ended funds that have traditionally paid commissions. Bestinvest, Charles Stanley Direct and Hargreaves Lansdown are the only platforms that include investment trusts alongside open-ended funds in their selections. In addition to these platforms, we also included investment trusts given the highest ratings by the data providers Financial Express (FE) and Morningstar.

The top rated investment trust

The top rated investment trust is Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMT), which gained five out of six recommendations. The trust is also an IC Top 100 Fund.

Scottish Mortgage is a Global sector investment trust that invests mostly in quoted equities. It aims to maximise total return while also generating dividend growth from an actively managed global portfolio, and achieve a greater return than the FTSE All World Index (in sterling terms) over a five-year rolling period.

As well as quoted equities, Scottish Mortgage invests in unlisted stocks in the belief that some of the best opportunities come up outside public markets.

The trust is managed by James Anderson and Tom Slater. It has an ongoing charge of 0.48 per cent and a yield of 1.14 per cent. The trust trades on a premium to net asset value (NAV) of around 1.2 per cent, below its 12-month average of 2.2 per cent.

Charles Stanley Direct says: "Scottish Mortgage is a global investment trust that typically demonstrates higher levels of volatility than the market and other global funds. It is unique in its high-conviction, long-term approach to high-growth companies, and its explicit desire to keep its management costs as low as possible. The approach will lead to periods of very strong and weak performance relative to global equity indices, and investors should be encouraged to own it over the long term, and be willing and able to tolerate the level of risk this approach brings to a diversified portfolio. We rate the managers highly and admire the unshaken conviction in their approach, which we believe is truly different."

Hargreaves Lansdown says: "This is an investment for tucking away in the bottom drawer, as the trust's small number of themes could take several years to reap any rewards. Over the long term, the approach has proved a success, although there are of course no guarantees for the future. James Anderson and Tom Slater are highly experienced managers, and also have the support of a well-resourced team at Baillie Gifford."

Morningstar describes Scottish Mortgage as among its favourites for global equity exposure, saying: "With ongoing charges typically around 50 basis points, this fund is very competitive among its category peers. It is ably run by experienced managers with a proven process that has delivered excellent results - and it's very cheap."

Other highly recommended trusts

Joint runners-up were three investment trusts which each gained four recommendations: BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust (BRFI), Jupiter European Opportunities Trust and RIT Capital Partners (RCP). All three funds are also IC Top 100 Funds.

BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust seeks to maximise total return and invests in the securities of companies domiciled or listed in frontier markets. A frontier market is a country that is not a constituent of developed markets or emerging markets indices because it is less developed than these. The trust invests in a wide range of frontier markets including Nigeria, Kuwait and Vietnam. However, it also looks beyond the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and includes shares from countries such as Saudi Arabia, which has a well-regulated market.

The trust is managed by Sam Vecht and Emily Fletcher who focus on bottom-up stock selection. It has an ongoing charge of 1.45 per cent and a yield of 5.7 per cent. It trades at a discount to NAV of about 3.8 per cent, similar to its 12-month average discount of 3.7 per cent.

Charles Stanley Direct says: "The trust is a good example of how the investment trust structure can be used to invest in more esoteric asset classes, and is best viewed as a long-term complement to the larger Global Emerging Market funds."

Morningstar says: "We have a high opinion of manager Sam Vecht's knowledge of frontier markets and his ability to consistently apply his process to this offering. He is assisted by Emily Fletcher, whose role as co-manager was formalised in May 2013, although Ms Fletcher's involvement extends back further as a longstanding member of Mr Vecht's team. She brings analytical expertise in Africa and Southeast Asia."

Jupiter European Opportunities Trust (JEO) is a European equities fund. The trust invests in securities of European companies, and sectors or geographical areas that its manager considers offer good prospects for capital growth, taking into account economic trends and business development. The trust's manager Alexander Darwall favours companies with attributes including:

■ a strong management record and team;

■ a sustainable competitive advantage; and

■ structural changes that are likely to benefit prospects.

Mr Darwall has managed the fund since its establishment in 2000 and has a significant amount of personal capital invested in the trust.

The trust has an ongoing charge plus performance fee of 3.92 per cent. Morningstar says the relatively high figure is because the trust paid a performance fee at the end of 2015, making the ongoing charge seem higher in comparison with previous years because it has not paid a performance fee since 2011. Without the performance fee, the ongoing charge is a much more modest 1.09 per cent.

The trust trades on a premium to NAV of 4.8 per cent which is substantially more than its 12-month average premium of 1.6 per cent.

Bestinvest describes Mr Darwall as a high-conviction fund manager who has a formidable track record, saying: "He pays little attention to short-term market moves, focusing on identifying the best sustainable growth companies listed in Europe. The process results in a focused portfolio of just 35 to 40 'special' companies, which are macro 'indifferent', prospering in a range of economic scenarios, and are winners through the cycle, offering superior, differentiated products or services."

Morningstar says: "Jupiter European Opportunities is a compelling choice for European equities. Since the fund's launch in 2000, it has returned 13.2 per cent annualised (to 31 August 2015), some eight percentage points more than its average Europe Flex-Cap Equity Morningstar Category peer. Not only that, but the manager has achieved consistent outperformance in every year bar 2008, when gearing exacerbated the market falls.

"Alexander Darwall has been in charge of this fund from the start, and we think this stability at the helm is a contributing factor to the fund's success thus far, as is the manager's European equity experience, which extends back to the 1980s."

RIT Capital Partners (RCP) is a multi-asset investment trust chaired by Lord Jacob Rothschild. Much of the wealth of the family of Lord Rothschild is invested within the fund, which takes a cautious wealth preservation approach and is highly diversified.

RIT Capital's objective is to deliver long-term capital growth while preserving shareholders' capital. The trust invests in a number of assets including quoted equity, equity funds, private equity, absolute return, and credit and real assets.

The trust has an ongoing charge plus performance fee of 1.25 per cent and a yield of about 1.9 per cent. It trades at a premium to NAV of 1.7 per cent in contrast to a 12-month average level of around par.

Charles Stanley Direct says: "[RIT Capital] is a diverse portfolio investing globally in a number of asset classes, including private equity, hedge funds and property, and it is in this asset allocation and more esoteric, rarely traded assets that it differentiates itself from other global equity funds or trusts. It is managed by a large investment team but Lord Rothschild himself remains involved, and family members sit on the trust's board of directors. Performance will typically lag rising equity markets given that around half of the assets are invested in illiquid assets or hedge funds, but will usually outperform in periods of weak equity market returns. Assessment of the trust's performance needs to be made over a long period given the vastly different composition to any reference index."

Hargreaves Lansdown says: "We like the pragmatic approach used by [investment director] Ron Tabbouche and the well-resourced team at RIT Capital Partners. Aiming to shelter some capital during market falls means there is less ground to make up when they rise again. Over the long term, aiming to capture the majority of market gains while sheltering on the downside can add up to attractive returns."