The Blue Planet Financials Growth & Income Trust has a distinctive structure, which can lead to confusion when comparing the performance data.

According to Blue Planet Investment Management, ‘The Blue Planet Financials Growth & Income Investment Trusts (No. 1 to 10) Plc were formally known as the Cairngorm Building Societies Investment Trusts (No. 1 to 10).

At the time of the Investment Trust’s launch, we forecast the further rationalisation of the building societies sector. For this reason, so as to maximise the potential returns anticipated to accrue from building society conversions, ten trusts were launched creating ten eligible members. Although each trust is a separate legal entity, to all intents and purposes each is identical and treated as a one-tenth part of a single entity.

‘In essence, the No. 1 is identical in all respects to No. 2 to 10 in terms of its underlying holdings (that is, its net asset value). However, as they are all separately listed, the supply/ demand situation of each can differ – just as the demand for RBS shares can differ from that for Lloyds TSB.

In practice, the demand for No. 1 is higher than that for No. 2 to 10, despite the fact that it is identical in other respects. This fact has led to its apparent outperformance. We say “apparent” because the spread on the No. 1 as at 1.30pm on 10 May was a truly massive 25p/155p, compared to the spread of the UNIT of 222p/230p.’

Blue Planet goes on to say: ‘We can’t stop investors buying the underlying shares, as they are well within their rights to do so. However, where possible we solely make reference to the UNIT, which is a package of all ten shares.’

In fact, on a historical basis, it has been significantly easier to buy and sell the unit than its individual components, and this has also been possible at keener prices. Given the spreads on some of the components, investors wishing to buy into this trust should consider doing so via the packaged units. To reflect this, our performance tables now show performance data for the units only.