- Recent investments include European insurance brokerages GGW, Induver and Clover, SME technology provider. Focus - Group and regulatory compliance platform CUBE.

- The trust's top 20 investments saw underlying sales and EBITDA growth of 24% and 29% respectively.

- Net Asset Value (NAV) for the fund rose 3.0% in the first quarter to £5.11 per share.

The shares trade at a discount to NAV of 0.7%.

Nicholas Hyett, Investment Manager at Wealth Club commented;

"The HgCapital Trust trades on one of the smallest discounts in the Private Equity sector. It's not hard to see why.

The manager's portfolio of high quality B2B software and service businesses continues to deliver impressive revenue growth, translating into even higher profit growth and driving up valuations. The balance sheet is in rude health, with oceans of liquidity on hand despite a flurry of recent acquisition activity.

With "further liquidity events expected over the next six to twelve months" and an "attractive pipeline" of opportunities there should be scope for Hg to rinse and repeat a winning formula."

HgCapital Trust is held within the Wealth Club Managed Portfolios.

Wealth Club view on investment trusts

"At Wealth Club, we think investment trusts can significantly improve an investor's portfolio.

They give you access to illiquid asset classes like private equity and infrastructure that are otherwise off limits to all but the very wealthiest individuals. These sectors often perform very differently to more mainstream markets and over the long term we believe they can improve your investment returns.

Investment trusts are also ideal for mangers investing in more illiquid parts of mainstream markets - such as smaller companies, emerging markets or out of favour companies. Because investment trusts have permanent capital, investors can't withdraw their money at times of stress and the manager can focus on the long term.

It's permanent capital that allows investment trusts to leverage their investments as well. By borrowing money to invest, trusts are able to magnify their performance - albeit at potentially higher risk, making gearing something to monitor closely.

Of course, the investment trust structure, which is essentially a stock market listed company which exists only to invest on its shareholders behalf, does come with some downsides. In particular investment trusts often trade at a discount to the value of their underlying investments. This means that they can be more volatile, falling by more than the value of their underlying investments at times of market stress and potentially overshooting the value of their investments during times of exuberance.

Ultimately investment trusts are all about patience. For those able and willing to sit out a short-term rollercoaster, the long-term benefits can be considerable.

The Wealth Club Portfolio Service typically invests between 10-15% in investment trusts."

Ends

For further information contact:

Jo Thorne: 07939882816, jo.thorne@wealthclub.co.uk

About Wealth Club

The aim of Wealth Club is simple. To provide high-net-worth individuals and sophisticated investors with clear, impartial and well-researched information on investment opportunities not typically available through mainstream stockbrokers or financial advisers. Wealth Club was set up in February 2016 and is now the largest non-advisory broker of tax-efficient investments such as VCTs, EIS and Inheritance Tax Portfolios. Since launch 12,000 clients have invested more than £1.2 billion through its platform. We actively target commercially compelling, high-potential and high-growth companies to back. In 2023, over 40% of Wealth Club's direct investments in private companies were oversubscribed.

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