Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust: making investment look like child’s play
The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, with its origins in the early 1900’s, is a name that hardly sets the pulse racing. Yet this apparent investment relic of a bygone age has delivered outstanding investment returns over the past 10 years. Its simplistic approach to investment, with a predominant focus on sales growth and evident consumer appeal, could be adopted by anyone.
From luxury retail to semiconductors and fast cars to cancer cures, the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust’s ten largest holdings have little in common. What they share is an ability to tear up the rule-book, defy the normal principles of sensible investment and blaze a new path in their respective industries. They also all sell products which are incredibly popular with consumers. Buying popular companies seems like an obvious approach to investment: high consumer demand leads to strong sales and fast growth which, in turn leads to decent a share price performance. But few chose to follow it. Why? Because it goes…