Over the past six months, the Baillie Gifford-managed trust has added Home24, a European online furniture retailer developed by Rocket Internet; online travel platform Airbnb, peer to peer lender Funding Circle, and Thumbtack, a US-based online directory and ratings platform for the provision of tradesmen’s services.
Chairman John Scott said in a statement: “In this report last year, the Company’s holdings within the unlisted equity space were highlighted, against the background of Alibaba choosing to undertake an initial public offering, at a market capitalisation of c.US$168bn. Since then, the trend of companies preferring to raise capital in the private markets and list on a public stock exchange much later in their development has progressed further and faster than expected. This is an extremely important shift for growth investors who primarily invest in the public equity markets, as it results in a loss of access to a considerable period of value creation in these exciting growth companies.”
In the six months to 30 September, the net asset value per share decreased by 10.9% and the share price fell by 9.7%. In comparison, the FTSE All World Index fell by 11.8%. Over the last 5 years, the net asset value of the trust has risen 77%, and the share price 104%. The Index returned 48% over the same period.
The group said that demand for its shares had remained healthy and the trust trades at a small premium to net asset value. The trust has issued 48m shares over the past six months, generating net proceeds in excess of £128m.
Earnings per share were 1.23p over the six months to 30 September 2015 compared with 1.62p for the same period last year, which represents a fall of 24.1%. The group said this trend of lower earnings was expected to continue. The fall is due to the large number of companies in the portfolio, particularly in the US, which are reinvesting in their own businesses rather than paying cash out to shareholders.
However, the group said it intends to maintain the dividend at its current level and declared an interim dividend of 1.38p.
