THE £2.6 billion Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust performed broadly in line with its benchmark in the three months to June 30.
The trust, which has tens of thousands of private investors and is managed by Edinburgh-based investment house Baillie Gifford, said yesterday that it had made a negative total return on net asset value of 0.2% in the three months to June. Its benchmark, the FTSE All-World Index in sterling terms, recorded a zero total return over the same period.
During the five years to June 30, Scottish Mortgage's net asset value total return is 42.1%. This is adrift of a total return of 52.4% on the FTSE All-World Index in sterling terms over this period.
James Budden, marketing and distribution director at Baillie Gifford, said this relative five-year performance picture would change soon.
He said: "The five-year figures look fairly modest. That will actually change relatively soon because, at the moment, they are taking in a very rocky period back in the great financial crisis, which will... fall out relatively soon, and then things will perk up as far as the performance stats go."
Scottish Mortgage has the objective of achieving a greater return than the FTSE All-World Index, in sterling terms, over a five-year period.
Mr Budden noted there had not been much change to Scottish Mortgage's portfolio during the three months to June. He said: "It is very much steady as she goes... We are very much on course, and the managers are still very optimistic about the quality of holdings they have."
US-headquartered online retailer Amazon and Chinese search engine Baidu remain Scottish Mortgage's largest holdings.
The trust's holding in Amazon accounted for 8.43% of total assets at June 30, up from 8.26% at March 31. Baidu made up 5.38% of Scottish Mortgage's total assets at June 30, up from 4.96% at March 31.
Inditex, the Spanish company behind fashion retailer Zara, is Scottish Mortgage's third-largest holding. It accounted for 4.88% of the trust's total assets at June 30, up marginally from 4.86% on March 31.
Scottish Mortgage noted that US-based retailer Whole Foods Market and Italian vehicle manufacturer Fiat had entered its list of top-20 holdings, with Brazilian miner Vale and UK engineering company Rolls-Royce dropping out, as a result of market movements.
The stake in Whole Foods, which has a store at Giffnock in East Renfrewshire, accounted for 1.86% of total assets at June 30 and was Scottish Mortgage's 18th- largest holding. Fiat made up 1.76% of the investment trust's total assets.
The shares closed 0.5p higher at 862p.
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