- Scottish Mortgage down 43% in first half of 2022
- Ambitious growth style has fallen out of favour
- Global Opportunities Trust tops league with flat performance
One of the UK’s most owned growth investment trusts has bagged the unwanted gong for worst performance this year, so far.
The £10.5 billion Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMT) is owned by thousands of UK retail investors who have been attracted to its long-term track record of market-beating returns, but 2022 has been an ugly year for growth stocks.
Scottish Mortgage has seen its share price and net assets fall nearly 44% and 33% respectively this year, versus the investment trust global sector’s 22% decline as large stakes in the likes of Moderna (MRNA:NASDAQ), Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ), Amazon AMZN:NASDAQ) and Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) have fallen sharply.
The growth-skewed Nasdaq Composite index in the US has lost around 29% so far in 2022.
Shares took an in-depth look at Scottish Mortgage earlier in June, which you can read here.
A DISMAL YEAR FOR GROWTH, SO FAR
Not one of Morningstar’s 17 global investment trusts have made gains this year, based on the data provider’s latest figures.
Topping the global investment trust performance league in the first half, with its roughly flat performance, is Global Opportunities Trust (GOT). It has managed this by investing in what it believes are undervalued assets with the freedom of building a portfolio uncorrelated with any index.
These include individual stocks, such as Italian energy firm ENI (ENI:MI), French industrial software supplier Dassault Aviation (EPA:AM) and the UK’s Shell (SHEL), with a handful of funds including Templeton European Long-Short Equity and Volunteer Park Capital.
This year, Scottish Mortgage shares have fallen from £13.375 to the current 730p.
DISCLAIMER: The author owns shares in Scottish Mortgage
