Baillie Gifford UK Growth sells Jupiter on concerns over future prospects
Six-months results to end of October
The £290m Baillie Gifford UK Growth investment trust has sold its holding in Jupiter Fund Management, it revealed in its six-month results to the end of October.
Despite a focus on low turnover in the trust, co-managers Iain McCombie and Milena Mileva sold out of the Jupiter position completely in the six-month period "due to concerns over its future growth prospects", the report said.
This was the only complete sale from the portfolio over the time period, while the team also initiated one new position in online apparel retailer, Farfetch.
The team conceded that the last six months had been a "tumultuous" time for the UK stock market, but chose to stick to their long-term strategy of making few changes to the portfolio.
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"We recognise that, in turbulent times, it might feel challenging to ‘just' do nothing," the managers said.
"However, we are deeply sceptical of our ability to trade our way around unpredictable short-term events.
"Instead, we remain steadfast in our belief that our mental energies are most usefully spent in building, as well as maintaining, our conviction in the long-term opportunities and competitive strengths of the individual businesses we are invested in on your behalf."
The managers defended this strategy in the face of underperformance against its benchmark over the six-month period, with the company's NAV falling 3.6% versus a 0.4% rise for the FTSE All-Share index. The trust's share price for the same period was down 8.7%.
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"It might be tempting to argue that our inactivity has not served shareholders well since our performance during this period lagged the benchmark," the managers said.
"Nobody likes underperforming, but we fundamentally believe that to generate attractive long-term returns in excess of the benchmark, one has to accept short-term volatility against it.
"We do not pretend that we have the ability to outperform every period in a smooth manner and we would question the wisdom of even trying to do so."
Taking advantage
Instead, the team is taking advantage of the volatility by adding to positions in companies that have been unfairly penalised by markets over the period, such as Abcam, which saw its shares slide after a cut to short-term profits.
"This provided us with the opportunity to increase our exposure to this fantastic British growth company," the team said.
Similarly, the trust added to its holding in Prudential, saying the market "continues to underestimate" the company, "distracted by news flow around Brexit, trade wars and the proposed de-merger of its UK business".
The purchase of Farfetch was also made partly as a result of the volatile environment, with the managers saying they have conviction in the business despite recent underperformance of its shares.
"We like the large, global, growth opportunity ahead of the company and remain impressed with the scale of its ambition as well as the calibre of its management team," the managers said.
Over five years to 27 November, both the trust's NAV and share price have delivered a return of 35%, slightly underperforming the IT UK All Companies sector average of 40%, according to FE fundinfo.
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