Our philosophy

The returns we aim to produce for shareholders will appeal to many, but the road travelled in achieving them may not. Investing in companies at the forefront of structural change means share price peaks and troughs are inevitable, for both the companies we own and the trust itself.

But in our experience, share prices follow fundamentals and progress always prevails. We ask that owners of Scottish Mortgage share in our long-time horizons, our commitment to investing in progress, and be aware that returns are not delivered in a straight line.

What happens to the average company is not important to us. We believe it’s a small number of exceptional growth companies that will drive returns. We aim to find them and own them for long periods of time.

The businesses we seek have long growth runways ahead of them. They address large and growing opportunities. They possess an enduring competitive advantage, disrupting their respective industries or even creating new ones. Many are founder-led and have a cultural edge that will tilt the chances of success in their favour.

Our investment horizon stretches beyond most investors. We believe this gives us an edge. By considering a company’s prospects and holding them for five years or more, that gives time for large opportunities to play out.

As patient owners, we see it as part of our role to support businesses and their management teams through good times and bad.

This version of long-term investing can be unfashionable, but if patient ownership of growth companies was easy, more investors would adopt a similar approach.

In seeking to maximise returns, we make use of the flexibility provided by our investment trust structure.

We have a permanent pool of capital to invest. That means, alongside public companies, we hold assets that can be harder to buy and sell or are more long-term in nature, such as world-leading private companies. Which provides shareholders access to these less liquid assets.

Just like other publicly listed companies, we can and do borrow money – sometimes known as ‘gearing’ – to make additional investments. This is in an effort to enhance long-term returns over the long-term.

Unlisted investments such as private companies, in which the Trust has a significant investment, can increase risk. These assets may be more difficult to sell, so changes in their prices may be greater.

Please note, if the Trust borrows money, there is a risk when this money is repaid, the value of the investments may not be enough to cover the borrowing and interest costs, and the Trust will make a loss. If the Trust's investments fall in value, any invested borrowings will increase the amount of this loss.