Aberforth Smaller Companies anticipates better times ahead

However, over more recent periods, the trust's performance has not been as strong. This, in part, is due to its value style of investing, whereby it looks for companies on modest valuations where earnings will improve or are unrecognised by the rest of the investment community - rather than cheap asset plays. This value bias was of great help between 2000 and 2002. However, during the recent bull market this acted as a headwind, according to Winterflood Investment Trusts research. When a number of highly-geared companies which suffered in 2008 entered the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies Index, Aberforth Smaller Companies' investment universe, the trust got left behind as it avoided these.

But this may change, says Winterflood investment analysts, if the small-cap universe sees some rotation into higher quality names. Over the years, the trust has also benefited from mergers and acquisitions, which could pick up going forward.

The trust boasts a much higher yield than nearly all of its sector peers with its managers very positive on income, with most of the portfolio holdings increasing dividends in 2010.

The trust is managed by a team of seven who specialise in smaller companies funds, and also run a unit trust version of this fund. Winterflood believes the team's research-driven, value-orientated investment approach should outperform over the cycle.

The trust started buying back its own shares to control its discount to net asset value (NAV) in 2008 and, as a result, this is now tighter than the sector average and the trust's own historic average.

Full data for Aberforth Smaller Companies Investment Trust is available here.

Source: Investors Chronicle, *Aberforth Partners and **Morningstar as at 5.7.10.

Top 10 holdings as at 31 May 2010

Sector Breakdown