Thomas says the trust is run in a similar manner to his £340.7m Jupiter Ecology portfolio, but without the ethical screens that restrict the open-ended product. This means that the £33.1m trust can look at newer technologies in companies further down the market cap spectrum.
Thomas said: "Broadly speaking, the average market cap of the holdings is about 25 per cent smaller, so because of that and the more fixed nature of that fund we look at some more early-stage ideas that we wouldn’t look at in the larger unit trust."
"We can look at companies that might be marginalised from the larger fund."
There are few opportunities for environmentally conscious investors in the closed-ended space, but data from FE Analytics shows Jupiter Green Investment has performed better than its competitors since it was launched in June 2006.
Performance of trusts over 10-yrs
| Name | 1-yr returns (%) | 3-yr returns (%) | 5-yr returns (%) | 10-yr returns (%) |
| Jupiter Green Investment | 15.93 | 13.58 | -18.97 | N/A |
| BlackRock New Energy IT | 7.76 | -33.51 | -49.8 | 92.31 |
| Impax Environmental Markets | 5.71 | -12 | -23.85 | 110.64 |
| Ludgate Environmental | -25.61 | -34.76 | -40.49 | N/A |
Source: FE Analytics
The trust has historically traded at a discount to NAV, but Thomas says the board has cut this down using share buybacks and is ready to do more.
In April it launched a subscription scheme that gives investors the right to buy shares at a future date if the discount-to-NAV gap closes.
This will allow its management to raise capital without diluting the holdings of existing shareholders.
It currently trades at an 8 per cent discount to NAV, which our data shows is low for recent years.
Price vs NAV over 3-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Data from FE Analytics shows that some of the largest holdings of the trust and fund coincide: both hold sausage manufacturer Cranswick and US health food company Whole Foods Market.
However, the closed-ended fund also has a 3.7 per cent holding in Novozymes, a Danish company that creates industrial enzymes, micro-organisms and biopolymers.
The trust also holds 2.4 per cent in Norwegian company Tomra Systems, which produces "reverse vending machines" for recycled goods.
The trust's total expense ratio is 1.72 per cent.
This article was written in collaboration with and is sponsored by Jupiter Asset Management.