Scottish Mortgage has always had an international focus, and with the proportion of British stocks in its portfolio declining , there’s only one FTSE 100 stock it wants to buy: Itself. The UK’s second-largest investment trust has bought back more than £1bn of its shares since it began the buyback in March , setting new records for the largest buyback in trust history. This included the largest single-day buyback of any investment trust, with the Baillie Gifford-backed trust buying back £311m in one day during May.
Scottish Mortgage’s stock price is still down almost 40 per cent from its peak four years ago, but has climbed 18 per cent since it began its buyback programme in March. While the trust’s share price discount to its underlying assets climbed from 22 per cent in the middle of 2023 to eight per cent, it then began to rapidly drop at the start of the new year, reaching 15 per cent in March. This was enough to push it towards a massive share buyback programme, but Scottish Mortgage is less keen on the rest of the FTSE 100.
UK-listed companies make up just over two per cent of its portfolio , with Wise making up 1.8 per cent, while Ocado has been held by Scottish Mortgage since it was a private company. Rather than the UK, one new area of focus for Scottish Mortgage is Latin America.
The trust’s largest holding is currently e-commerce platform Mercado Libre, while a new investment for the trust is Nubank, a Brazilian financial technology company and the large.