Scottish Mortgage Balances Dividend Legacy with £250m Private Equity Pivot as SpaceX Fuels 27% NAV Surge
27.05.2026 - 15:42:21 | boerse-global.de
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is threading a needle: maintaining a four-decade dividend streak while pouring fresh capital into unlisted assets. The board has authorised an additional £250 million for private equity investments, subject to annual renewal. Manager Tom Slater describes the move as a “once-in-a-generation shift” driven by artificial intelligence. Simultaneously, the trust raised its total dividend by 4.3% to 4.57p per share, marking the 43rd consecutive annual increase. The final payout of 2.97p is due on 10 July 2026 to shareholders on the register at 12 June.
The investment case, however, rests on performance rather than income. In the year to 31 March 2026, net asset value (NAV) jumped 27.4% on a total-return basis, while the share price advanced 26.8%. Both comfortably beat the FTSE All-World Index, which gained 18.0%. Pre-tax profit surged to £3.1 billion from £1.2 billion a year earlier, driven by £3.2 billion in investment gains. The £16 billion portfolio’s standout holding is SpaceX, now accounting for 19–20% of assets after a 179% valuation uplift. Slater calls it a “double monopoly,” dominating both satellite launch services and global connectivity via Starlink.
Other big positions include Anthropic, Databricks, Stripe and Bytedance. Chairman Christopher Samuel notes that recent AI breakthroughs represent a fundamental shift in the global economy. Yet the concentration on private innovators comes as a wave of selling sweeps through legacy data companies — new AI tools from rivals like Anthropic are putting incumbent providers under pressure. The trust’s ongoing charges ratio stands at 0.33%, a lean fee line for a vehicle with such hefty private-market exposure. Gearing has fallen to around 11% (from roughly 13%), not because debt was repaid but because the portfolio expanded. Average borrowing costs are 3.6%, and total debt at book value is £1.6 billion against cash of £11 million.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Scottish Mortgage Investment?
Scottish Mortgage ended March 2026 trading at a 9.5% discount to NAV, but the gap has since flipped. Shares changed hands at a slight premium after the annual results, allowing the manager to issue new equity. An active buyback programme remains available should the price slip back below NAV. The stock currently trades at €17.89, about 5% below its 52-week high of €18.85, and is up 28.8% since the start of the year.
Shareholders will vote on the revised investment policy and the re-election of directors at the annual general meeting on 2 July. Management argues that its ability to hold private assets longer than traditional venture capital funds allows it to capture full value from technology and space infrastructure. For a trust that has increased its dividend for 43 years in a row — earning “Dividend Hero” status from the Association of Investment Companies — the payout is secondary to the growth story. The real bet remains whether AI and private equity exposure can sustain the premium that has recently drawn investors back in.
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