Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LON:SMT), the only investment trust in the FTSE 100, said there have been “no significant changes” made to the portfolio in recent months in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The investment company, which is managed by Baillie Gifford, reported total returns far in excess of its benchmark for the year to 31 March, with net asset value total return up 13.7% to 567.3p and the share price up 12.7%, versus a 6.2% fall for the FTSE All-World index and a flat performance for its investment sector.
Since the year end, the shares have risen a further 23% to take the market cap of the company above £10bn this week.
On top of these returns, the dividend will be increased by 4% to a total of 3.25p, half of which funded by earnings and half from the distributable capital reserves.
The portfolio includes many names that have thrived in the pandemic, including Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) as its largest holding, Chinese trio Delivery Hero, Alibaba and Tencent, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), HelloFresh and Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM).
Chair Fiona McBain said portfolio managers James Anderson and Tom Slater have “remained focused on their task of patient investment” and “continue to concentrate on the long term prospects for the companies they hold but are also mindful that these businesses must also be able to endure to reach that point. Those that do will likely emerge stronger.”
Ahead of the annual shareholder meeting, the board has made one proposed change: to raise the limit for investing in private companies from 25% to 30%.
“This flexibility to invest in the best companies which the Managers find, regardless of the capital structure, has been an important driver of the returns generated for shareholders over the last decade,” said McBain.
“As an increasing number of the best growth companies have remained private until much later in their development, it has enabled the managers to maintain the quality and depth of their opportunity set and to invest simply in any company which met their investment philosophy and criteria.”
Shares in the trust rose more than 2% on Friday morning to 693p.