(Alliance News) - Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC on Friday said its net asset value took a big leap over the first half of its financial year, bolstered by a strong performance from its holdings in Tesla Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
As at September 30, after deducting borrowings at book value, the FTSE 100 investment trust posted a net asset value of 998.7 pence per share, up 76% from 567.3p at the end of March.
Scottish Mortgage said that Tesla, which represents 12% of the trust's total assets, made a 25% contribution to absolute performance on a total return basis for the period. This was despite the trust selling over 40% of its holding in Tesla during the period.
Shares in the US electric car maker have risen by more than five times in 2020 to date.
The second largest contributor was online marketplace Amazon.com Inc, which represents 7.9% of its total assets, and contributed 6.8% on a total return basis. Amazon shares are up 80% in the year so far.
As a result of the strong performance, Scottish Mortgage declared an interim dividend of 1.45 pence per share, up 4.3% from 1.39p the year before.
"A clear lesson from this year's events is that we should treat confident pronouncements about the future with scepticism. Rather than engage in such speculation, we prefer to back the companies building the future of our economy with the capital and patience they require. Such opportunities remain plentiful," the trust stated.
Shares in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust were down 1.0% at 1,070.40 pence on Friday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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Scottish Mortgage (SMT)