Research from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has revealed that almost a third of investment trusts have annual charges of less than 1 per cent.

The research showed 30 per cent of the closed-end funds had total expense ratios (TERs) of less than 1 per cent - the percentage of funds with charges under 1.5 per cent rose substantially to 58 per cent.

The Global Growth sector had the highest proportion of funds with charges under 1 per cent, at 60 per cent followed by the Global Growth & Income sector.
 
The lowest cost AIC member was the Edinburgh US Tracker trust in the North America sector with a TER of 0.38 per cent.  Other low cost included the City of London investment trust with a TER of 0.43 per cent and the Independent investment trust at 0.44 per cent.

However, the AIC said the average TER had risen due to an increase in the number of specialist investment trusts - particularly in the property and hedge fund sectors - with higher charges.
 
The average investment trust TER is now 1.76 per cent compared with 1.41 per cent in October 2008.

Ian Sayers, director general of the AIC, said investment trusts in retail-oriented sectors such as the Global Growth offered “excellent” value for money

He said: “Whilst charges are only one of several factors to bear in mind, they are an important consideration.

“Over the past couple of years there has also been a significant increase in more specialist investment companies which tend to have higher charges.”

Sayers added: “Investors need to consider this alongside the other investment criteria when making their investment decisions.”
 
With performance fees included, the average investment trust TER was 1.83 per cent compared with 1.56 per cent in October 2008. In January 2010, 135 investment trusts had performance fees in place with 44 paying the fee.
 
The research analysed 251 investment trusts within the range of AIC sectors, not including venture capital trusts (VCTs). The research did not include external costs such as stamp duty, finacial adviser costs, or buying and selling costs.
 
A full list of the AIC’s research on investment trust TERs can be found by visiting: http://bit.ly/AIC_TERs2010