LONDON (Alliance News) - Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC on Friday said it net asset value increased in the first half of its financial year as a result of strong performances from its holdings in Amazon.com Inc and Illumina Inc, as well as private equity investments.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed investment trust were up 2.4% at 492.75 pence on Friday.
As at September 30, after deducting borrowings at book value, the trust's net asset value per share stood at 527.7 pence, significantly ahead of its 443.5p net asset value per share on March 31.
Scottish Mortgage said Amazon, which represents 10.5% of its total assets, made a 4.6% contribution to absolute performance on a total return basis for the six months to the end September, with Illumina following with its 8.7% of total assets producing a 4.2% performance contribution during the period.
Furthermore, Scottish Mortgage highlighted the importance of its investment in unquoted companies. In particular, the trust highlighted the portfolio contribution from private companies in which Scottish Mortgage was able to increase its ownership when they went public.
"In total, such holdings have so far made an absolute contribution in sterling terms to portfolio returns of just under 17%, if one only takes account of the returns generated in the period for which they remained private," Scottish Mortgage said.
"This misses one of the important advantages that Scottish Mortgage has when investing in such companies, which is the potential for continued or increased ownership in the event of a public listing. The absolute contribution in sterling terms to the portfolio returns from holding such companies to the end of September was actually just under 30%, when the subsequent returns they generated in the public markets are included," the company added.
Scottish Mortgage noted that while it is difficult to foresee where the level of its unlisted holdings made be in the future, they nonetheless maintain their significance to the portfolio.
"The range of benefits from Scottish Mortgage's ability to invest in these businesses while they are still private companies will continue to be a key differentiating factor in creating value for shareholders over the years to come," the trust said.
The trust declared an interim of 1.39p, unchanged from the year-ago period.
Scottish Mortgage (SMT)