Scottish Mortgage Navigates Comeback with 27% NAV Gain, Eyes SpaceX IPO as Portfolio Crown Jewel
29.05.2026 - 18:32:15 | boerse-global.de
The brutal drawdown that punished growth investors in 2022 is firmly in the rearview mirror at Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust. The closed-end fund’s annual results, released last week, show a full recovery to levels last seen in November 2021, driven by a stellar performance from its largest holding, SpaceX, and a broader re?rating of its private equity stakes.
For the financial year ending 31 March 2026, Scottish Mortgage delivered a net asset value total return of 27.4%, comfortably outpacing the FTSE All?World Index’s 18.0%. The shares themselves rose 26.8%, nearly matching the NAV gain. That recovery took roughly 30 months: the stock bottomed at 628 pence in April 2023 and now trades at around €18.02, just 4% shy of its 52?week high. Year?to?date, the share price has climbed almost 29%.
Central to that rebound is SpaceX, which now accounts for more than 19% of the portfolio — an extraordinary concentration that manager Tom Slater describes as “highly unusual”. The holding surged 179% over the year, buoyed by speculation that the rocket company will go public in mid?June at a valuation near $1.75 trillion. Slater is frank about the concentration risk, acknowledging “possible volatility”, but he also argues that SpaceX has evolved into a “dual monopoly”: the dominant provider of launch services and, through Starlink, a global communications network with software?like margins.
Starlink’s growth has been explosive. In 2025 alone it added 4.6 million net new subscribers, reaching a total of 9 million customers across 35 new countries. That revenue stream, Slater says, transforms SpaceX from a mere aerospace supplier into a high?margin technology platform — a key reason Scottish Mortgage intends to hold the stock well beyond the initial public offering.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Scottish Mortgage Investment?
“An IPO changes where shares are traded, not the opportunity or our reasons for owning them,” Slater stated flatly. The trust’s closed?end structure gives it the flexibility to avoid forced selling at listing — a luxury mutual funds do not always enjoy. It is still unclear whether Scottish Mortgage will be subject to the standard six?month lock?up that typically applies to pre?IPO investors, but the manager’s message is clear: the stake is staying put.
Once SpaceX begins trading, its daily share price will feed directly into Scottish Mortgage’s NAV, increasing visible volatility. City broker Winterflood estimates that the listing alone could add a further 7% to the trust’s NAV. Slater also flagged a pipeline of other large private holdings that could go public in the coming years, including Anthropic, Databricks, ByteDance and Stripe — all “billion?dollar companies with substantial revenues and profits”, not early?stage bets.
The trust’s own financial discipline remains intact. Ongoing charges are just 0.33%, with no performance fees. Gearing edged down to around 11%, and the cost of debt is 3.6%. That prudent capital structure has helped support the shares’ move from a persistent discount to a premium to NAV. On 28 May 2026, Scottish Mortgage issued 1.15 million new shares from treasury at 1,502.02 pence each — a price above the prevailing NAV. The move frees up cash for further private investments and signals renewed demand for the trust.
Income investors, meanwhile, get a modest lift. The annual dividend rises 4.3% to 4.57p per share, marking the 43rd consecutive annual increase. That streak earns Scottish Mortgage the Association of Investment Companies’ “Dividend Hero” status. The proposed final dividend of 2.97p is payable on 10 July 2026, subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting on 2 July.
With a portfolio anchored by a dual?monopoly SpaceX and a growing roster of mature private companies approaching public markets, Scottish Mortgage has turned a painful chapter into a textbook comeback — and its managers show no sign of easing off the accelerator.
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