Mid Wynd International Investment Trust PLC on Monday said that the concentration of share price returns in a handful of US stocks is driven almost exclusively by faith in artificial intelligence with profit opportunities grasped by a ‘current elite list of winners’ which it expects to change.

The Edinburgh-based investor in international stocks, which is managed by Bermuda-based Lazard Asset Management Ltd, said net asset value per share rose to 810.22 pence each as at June 30 from 719.84p a year prior.

NAV total return per share improved to 13.9% in the financial year ended June 30, compared to 5.6% a year prior, but underperformed against the MSCI All Country World index, which had a total return of 20.1%.

Mid Wynd proposed a final dividend of 4.15 pence per share, up 5.1% from 3.95p a year prior. This brings the total payout to 8.00p, up 2.6% from 7.8p.

However, it did not declare a special dividend for financial 2024. Including a 1.7p special dividend Mid Wynd had paid for financial 2023, the total payout fell by 16% to 8.00p from 9.5p.

Citing the ‘magnificent seven’ big US tech companies, Chair Russell Napier said: ‘The concentration of share price returns in a handful of US stocks is driven almost entirely by faith that a new technology, artificial intelligence will produce high levels of corporate earnings far into the future for this select band of companies. If that is to be true it will be the first time, certainly that I am aware of, when the corporate earnings boost from a breakthrough new technology accrued only to such a limited pool of companies. Technological breakthroughs have played a key role driving investors’ returns in equities since the birth of stock markets with a diving bell investment boom, a key new technology for those seeking to salvage treasure from wrecks, playing a key role in the English stock market boom in the mid 1690s.’

The ‘magnificent seven’ are Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Tesla Inc.

Chair Napier added: ‘History suggests that the most likely outcome from the current technological breakthrough will be a spread of profit opportunities far beyond the current elite list of winners that the market has anointed as the beneficiaries of AI. A technological breakthrough of this significance will also produce risks for existing corporations.’

Mid Wynd shares were up 0.1% at 771.00 pence each on Monday morning in London.

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