Not financial advice. This page summarizes public fund disclosures and reporting for research purposes — it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Baillie Gifford, and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Investment trusts carry gearing and discount risk on top of the underlying holdings, and this one is unusually concentrated. Do your own due diligence.
01 // WHY THIS ONE MATTERS TO YOU
The Practical Case
It's the accessible route to companies your hub already tracks
SpaceX, Anthropic, Databricks and Stripe appear across your AI, Space and IPO Pipeline pages as private companies you can't buy. Scottish Mortgage holds all four. It's a FTSE 100-listed investment trust, so unlike US-domiciled ARK funds it's directly purchasable through any UK platform — no PRIIPs problem, no FX wrapper. That combination is rare, and it's the main reason this belongs alongside ARK rather than beneath it.
02 // THE NUMBERS
Scottish Mortgage (SMT) at a Glance
-9.3%
DISCOUNT TO NAV (16 OCT 2026, VS AJ BELL ESTIMATED NAV)
The gap has widened from about -7.7% a week ago. AJ Bell shows sell 1,543.00p / buy 1,544.50p on 16 Oct against an estimated NAV of 1,703.59p, a discount of -9.31%; the latest published NAV (1,753.50p, 15 Oct) is a day older, so measuring the 16 Oct price against it would overstate the gap (about -12%). The cleaner like-for-like read is 15 Oct: the trust bought back shares at 1,587.19p against that 1,753.50p NAV, roughly -9.5%. Either way it is wider than the 12-month average of -6.35%, and the share price fell about 3% on 16 Oct as the Nasdaq 100 had what one data provider called its worst week in 18 months, even though shares hit a record £15.83 at the end of September. The board keeps buying back below NAV: 635,000 shares on 15 Oct at 1,587.19p, taking treasury holdings to 445.4m shares (1,039.4m in issue excluding treasury). Baillie Gifford's 30 Sep factsheet gave -7.9%; the August factsheet -7.5%. Canaccord Genuity views 5-10% as "reasonable" given the risk, so this sits at the top of that range. Always check the live figure before buying
+40.3%
SHARE PRICE TOTAL RETURN, 12 MONTHS TO 30 SEP 2026
NAV total return +36.3% against the FTSE All-World's +18.7% (Baillie Gifford's September factsheet, published 8 Oct). Three-year: share price +140.7% / NAV +113.4% vs index +67.5%. Five-year is the awkward one: share price +13.9% / NAV +27.8% vs index +79.3%, because the window still includes the 2021-22 drawdown. Ten-year NAV +464.3% vs index +228.4%. Ongoing charge 0.33%. Gearing is 2% on the AIC's 8 Oct figure (the factsheet shows gross 6% / net 4%, so definitions differ; net liquid assets 1.2%). Total assets £18.67bn at 30 Sep; the NAV fell from 1,776p (8 Oct) to 1,753.50p (15 Oct), so NAV and market cap have drifted lower since. These return figures are to 30 Sep and do not yet capture October's Nasdaq weakness. Half-year results to end-September are due around November
15.0%
SPACEX WEIGHT (30 SEP 2026 FACTSHEET, LATEST PUBLISHED)
Down from 17.5% at 31 Aug and 18.05% at end-July, and well below the post-IPO peak near 25-26%. Since then SPCX has fallen: it closed at $146.03 on 16 Oct (market cap about $1.9tn), down roughly 10% from $162.57 on 9 Oct, below its $161 first-day close and about 35% under the $225.64 post-IPO high, so the live weight is probably below 15% (our inference; the next factsheet will confirm). Held since 2018, it is still by far the largest holding, nearly 2.5x the next one (TSMC 6.5%). Managers say the staged lock-up release lets them trim gradually. Canaccord Genuity rates the trust 'hold' on the concentration
24.9%
PRIVATE ASSETS (30 SEP 2026)
54 private and 48 public holdings (102 in total), with the top 30 making up 81.2% of assets. Shareholders voted at the 2 July AGM to lift the unquoted-holdings cap above the old 30% limit (24.1% voted against); with SpaceX now listed, the private share has fallen well below that ceiling. Notable listed moves: Moderna is now #4 at 4.3% (3.2% in August), and Zipline (US drone delivery) has entered the top 10 at 3.7% after a $1bn share sale at a $20bn valuation, up about 120%. Annual turnover is 11%. The 13-year Tesla stake remains fully exited
03 // THE PHILOSOPHY
How Baillie Gifford Thinks
ASYMMETRY
A few winners pay for everything
Their core belief: stock returns are radically skewed — a tiny number of companies generate almost all long-run market gains. So the job is finding those few and holding them through volatility that would shake out most managers.
TIME ARBITRAGE
Patience as the edge
They argue their advantage isn't better information but a longer horizon — willingly holding for five to ten years while the market prices the next quarter. Structurally the same bet ARK makes, executed with less turnover.
PRIVATE ACCESS
Buying before the IPO
Unlike most ETFs, the trust structure lets them hold unquoted companies. SpaceX was bought in 2018 — eight years before its June 2026 Nasdaq listing — which is where a large share of the recent return came from.
VS ARK
Same family, different temperament
Both bet on innovation over a decade. Baillie Gifford trades less, holds more private assets, and has had the better recent run; ARK is more thematically explicit and far more transparent about daily trades. Reading both is more useful than picking one.
04 // WHAT THEY HOLD
Notable Positions
Private holdings are the differentiator — these are the names your hub tracks but can't otherwise access.
| Holding | Status | Why it matters here |
|---|---|---|
| SpaceX | Listed Jun 2026 (Nasdaq: SPCX) | Held since 2018; IPO'd at $135/share ($161 first-day close), the biggest listing in history and still the dominant driver of the trust's return. Weight has eased from a post-IPO peak near 25-26% to 15.0% of assets on the 30 Sep factsheet (17.5% in August). SPCX closed at $146.03 on 16 Oct (down from $162.57 on 9 Oct), now below the $161 first-day close and well under the $225.64 post-IPO high, with SpaceX results and Tesla-merger speculation in the headlines. Managers say lock-up releases are staged so the position can be reduced gradually. Cross-reference your Space Economy page |
| Anthropic | Private — IPO reportedly targeted for November 2026 | SMT's stake has kept climbing on valuation upgrades: 1.1% of assets in March, ~2.3% in July, 2.9% in August, now 4.0% (#6) on the 30 Sep factsheet. As of 11 Oct no public S-1 was on EDGAR (a confidential draft was submitted on 1 June); an investor meeting was reported for 14 Oct, and a public filing would need to land around 23 Oct to support a roadshow from the week of 9 Nov and trading before Thanksgiving (26 Nov). None of these dates is confirmed by Anthropic. The last confirmed private valuation is $965bn (May Series H); reported IPO valuation talk ranges from about $1.8tn to $3tn, which is press speculation rather than a company target. See AI & Compute |
| Databricks | Private (~$190bn, Aug 2026 round) | Raised $5bn at $190bn in mid-August, up from $134bn in February; no S-1 filed yet and the CEO has ruled out a 2026 listing, pointing to 2027 at the earliest |
| Stripe | Private (~$159bn cited) | Payments infrastructure; was 2.8% of assets in August and has dropped out of the top 10 on the 30 Sep factsheet (so below 2.7%), last marked via a tender offer in February 2026. Manager Tom Slater has named it, alongside Anthropic and Databricks, as a realistic listing candidate "in the coming years" (possibly 2027) |
| ByteDance | Private (~4.0% of assets) | TikTok's parent; 4.0% on the 30 Sep factsheet (4.4% in August), now level with Anthropic and still a major unquoted position |
| Zipline | Private (new top-10 entry, ~3.7%) | US drone-delivery company; its valuation reportedly jumped about 120% to $20bn in a $1bn share sale in September, which helped lift SMT's September NAV |
| Tesla | Exited (2026) | Sold the entire 13-year-old stake during the year — one of the largest listed-book changes in some time — as managers rotate capital toward AI, space and other private growth names |
| Listed growth book | Public | TSMC (6.5% of assets) and Nvidia (6.2%) are the largest listed positions after SpaceX, followed by Moderna (4.3%), MercadoLibre (3.1%), ASML (2.8%) and Amazon (2.7%) per the 30 Sep factsheet; check the monthly factsheet for current weights |
05 // WHAT TO UNDERSTAND FIRST
Investment Trust Mechanics
Trusts behave differently from ETFs in ways that matter. This isn't covered on your Investing 101 page yet — worth learning before considering one.
PREMIUM / DISCOUNT
Price ≠ net asset value
A trust's shares trade independently of the underlying portfolio. Buying at a 10% discount means paying 90p for £1 of assets — and that gap can widen against you. Always check the discount before buying, never just the price chart.
GEARING
Trusts can borrow
Unlike most ETFs, trusts may use leverage to boost returns — which amplifies losses equally. Check the gearing level in the factsheet.
Valuation of private holdings
Unquoted stakes are valued periodically, not by a live market — SpaceX itself only became a live market price in June. With the position now down to about 15% of assets post-listing, and other names like Anthropic (4.0% of assets, reportedly targeting a November IPO at a reported $1.8tn or more against a last confirmed private mark of $965bn) and Databricks still marked privately, a single revaluation or IPO price still moves the whole trust.
Concentration is the strategy and the risk
SpaceX sat at 15.0% of assets on the 30 Sep factsheet (latest published, and probably lower since SPCX fell about 10% in the past week) after easing back from a post-IPO peak near 25-26%, per Canaccord Genuity — and shareholders only narrowly endorsed lifting the private-asset ceiling further at July's AGM (24.1% voted against). That single position drove the outperformance and remains the dominant single risk, with limited ability to trim it during the staggered post-IPO lock-up (releases run through Q3 results, with founder Elon Musk restricted for 366 days). Both facts are the same fact.
06 // HOW TO READ IT
Honest Scorecard
The recent record is strong
Beating the FTSE All-World by ~9 points in the year to March, then watching that private position actually IPO as the biggest listing in history, is a real vindication of the long-horizon approach — rolling 12-month NAV return has since accelerated further to +36.3% (to 30 Sep). Anthropic, now 4.0% of the trust, is reportedly aiming for a November IPO, which would be the next big test of the private marks (no public S-1 yet and timing is not confirmed). The last week is a reminder the other way: the Nasdaq sold off, SPCX fell about 10%, and the discount widened.
But one holding did the work
Attributing a firm-wide philosophy to what was substantially one extraordinary position is exactly the reasoning error the Calibration page exists to catch. Ask what the return looks like without SpaceX — and note the discount has widened this week to about 9.3-9.5%, against a 6.35% 12-month average, even as buybacks keep running (635,000 shares on 15 Oct) and the share price hit a record at the end of September; the market isn't fully buying the buyback story. The five-year share-price return is only +13.9% against +79.3% for the index, a reminder of how much the 2021-22 drawdown still weighs. Canaccord Genuity's 'hold' rating and a Seeking Alpha downgrade both cite the same concentration this page flags, though Canaccord also frames a 5-10% discount as broadly reasonable given the risk — this one now sits at the top of it.
It has been brutal before
The same strategy produced a severe drawdown in 2021–22 when rates rose. Anyone considering it should look at that period, not just the last twelve months — the strategy hasn't changed, the environment did.
Best used as a second opinion
Where Baillie Gifford and ARK hold the same names, that's consensus among long-horizon growth investors. Where they diverge — and where the bears disagree with both — is the interesting research question.