Invesco Global Equity Income Trust posts strong 12-month gains as managers pursue flexible, income-led strategy

London-listed Invesco Global Equity Income Trust posted a strong 12-month performance, delivering more than a 27% total return and outperforming its peers and broad benchmarks. The trust, formed last year from the restructuring of Invesco's Select fund, has shown a capacity to combine growth opportunities with an income focus, a balance the managers say is crucial in varied market conditions.

The fund is run from Invesco’s offices in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, by Stephen Anness, head of global equities, and Joe Dowling. It currently yields about 3.4% in annual income, but Anness emphasizes that the mission is to deliver performance across market environments rather than adhere to a single investment style. "As managers, we're not wedded to one particular investment style," Anness said. "We're very much open-minded. We want a portfolio robust and flexible enough to extract returns from different parts of the market, according to where we see value." Dowling added that the strategy is to own businesses that are likely to be bigger in five, ten and twenty years and are attractively valued today.

The portfolio reflects a dual DNA: growth-oriented names that can drive capital gains, and dividend-friendly companies that ground the income generation. The 42 holdings include fast-growing players such as Broadcom, a US technology giant that tends to pay little or no dividends, and more traditional income aqueducts like Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and private equity investor 3i. These latter two form a substantive portion of the assets, illustrating the fund’s willingness to blend growth potential with reliable income streams. The managers argue that this mix helps the trust perform across different cycles, rather than relying on any single engine for returns.

Dowling described Rolls-Royce Holdings as a standout example of the “dividend-recovery” segment within the portfolio. He said the company has undergone an “unbelievable transformation,” citing opportunities in nuclear power, defence and data centres as drivers of its momentum. Over the past year, Rolls-Royce shares have surged about 128%, underscoring the fund’s tilt toward companies poised to benefit from long-term secular trends while still offering upside through capital appreciation.

The managers maintain a wide investment universe, with a list of about 140 stocks to pick from and another ~100 companies under review. That breadth, they say, supports timely rotations into newly valued opportunities as conditions evolve. Geographically, the fund is skewed toward North America, while more than 20% of the portfolio comprises UK-listed companies. The balance reflects a global mandate designed to capture both mature income profiles and dynamic growth opportunities across regions.

The trust’s dividend strategy is guided by a board-approved target to pay an annual distribution equal to roughly 4% of net assets. In practical terms, this means that if assets grow over time, the dividend may increase in tandem. For the last financial year ending May, the trust paid total dividends of 12.52p per share, with quarterly distributions. In the current year to date, an initial dividend of 3.375p has been paid, up from 3.13p in the prior year’s comparable period. The shares are trading at a small premium to net asset value, around £3.70, and ongoing charges sit at about 0.8%. The stock market ticker is IGET and the identifier code is B1DQ647.

Investors in search of global equity income exposure may be drawn to the fund for its willingness to mix growth and income strategies under a single, flexible mandate. While it is structured as an income-focused vehicle, the trust’s managers say performance in all market environments remains the priority, with rotation and valuation signals guiding stock selection rather than a fixed style box. The combination of a diversified universe, a meaningful allocation to North American growth opportunities and a meaningful UK exposure provides a differentiated approach among global equity income trusts, and one that has delivered notable returns over the past year.