Fund management in the interwar period: UK investment trust portfolio asset allocation in the 1920s

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates the portfolio asset allocation of UK investment trusts between 1914 and 1928 using a unique hand-collected dataset of 41 companies, which comprises 40,875 portfolio holdings. UK investment trusts not only survived WWI without major losses but also had a remarkable performance in the 1920s, which led to a wave of new incorporations. The 1920s was a period of significant shifts in investment trust portfolio composition and our analysis examines the main reasons for this. We show that investment trust managers were able to adjust quickly to the new socioeconomic circumstances and secure high profitability for their shareholders.