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The FTSE 100 is buying and selling simply shy of its all-time excessive of 8,885 factors reached on 10 June 2025. Buyers have lastly began returning to the UK market after years of underperformance, pushed by stabilising rates of interest, undervalued blue chips, and powerful earnings in cyclical sectors.
Housebuilders have been main the cost as mortgage charges cool, whereas treasured metals shares proceed to profit from safe-haven demand. Nonetheless, not each a part of the market has caught up with this momentum. Specifically, some funding trusts and closed-end funds (CEFs) stay considerably undervalued, regardless of holding high-quality belongings.
Trusts commerce like shares however can typically lag behind market actions attributable to their pricing construction — they’re based mostly on demand for the fund, not simply the worth of its holdings. That may create shopping for alternatives when sentiment is sluggish to catch up to fundamentals.
Two such trusts that at the moment appear like bargains to me are Polar Capital Expertise Belief (LSE: PCT) and Unite Group (LSE: UTG).
Polar Capital Expertise Belief
This tech-focused belief provides UK buyers uncommon entry to a portfolio full of high-growth US tech shares. Regardless of delivering a staggering 474% return over the previous decade — equal to just about 19% annualised development — it nonetheless appears to be like low-cost by a number of key metrics.
Its return on fairness (ROE) stands at a formidable 33%, showcasing how successfully the belief deploys capital. In the meantime, its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of simply 3.38 is unusually low for a tech-focused fund, even when it displays current weak spot within the US tech market. The price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 0.96 suggests the shares are buying and selling near web asset worth, providing buyers stable publicity with out overpaying.
That mentioned, the current subdued efficiency of US large-cap tech — notably the ‘Magnificent Seven’ — has weighed on short-term returns. If the US market continues to stall, the belief may stay in limbo for some time longer. However for long-term buyers prepared to journey out the volatility, the belief’s low valuation and observe document make a compelling case that’s value contemplating.
Unite Group
I lined Unite Group again in Might and I nonetheless suppose it’s a inventory value contemplating. Because the UK’s main supplier of purpose-built scholar lodging (PBSA), it’s in a sector with secure demand, robust pricing energy, and restricted provide.
It operates as an actual property funding belief (REIT), specializing in long-term capital appreciation and revenue.
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Its 4.4% dividend yield is supported by a really low payout ratio of 38%, giving it room to develop. In truth, dividends have elevated by a median of 5.37% yearly, underlining its passive revenue attraction.
In fact, any slowdown in scholar demand or regulatory change to rental legal guidelines may pose dangers. REITs are additionally extremely delicate to rates of interest, which have improved these days — however we’re not within the clear but.
That mentioned, with restricted college housing out there and rising worldwide scholar numbers, the outlook stays optimistic.
What actually stands out is the underlying effectivity. Unite has a P/E ratio of simply 8.77, a P/E-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 0.03 (suggesting fast development relative to price), and an working margin of 55%. Much more spectacular, its free money circulation margin is 74.8%, which means it retains practically 75p of each £1 of income as money.