Scottish Mortgage Rings the Register Again as £3bn SpaceX Juggernaut Approaches Nasdaq
Published on 05/28/2026 at 16:28 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
When Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust gathers for its annual general meeting in Edinburgh on 2 July, the agenda will be overshadowed by a single question: how to manage the £3bn SpaceX stake that now dominates the portfolio. The Elon Musk-led rocket and satellite company, which represents 19.3% of total assets, is expected to debut on the Nasdaq in June at a target valuation of $1.75tn. Winterflood analysts estimate the listing alone could add roughly 7% to the trust’s net asset value.
Investor appetite has already returned with enough force to flip the trust’s capital policy. After years of steady buybacks, Scottish Mortgage placed 2.2 million shares at 1476.17p on 21 May, its first significant issuance in a long while. The move came as the 9.5% discount to NAV seen at the end of March vanished and shares began trading at a premium. By 27 May the stock had reached 1528p — a 55% gain over twelve months and a 28% advance since the start of 2026.
The buoyant sentiment is supported by a strong financial year. For the twelve months to 31 March 2026, the trust generated a net asset value total return of 27.4%, while the share price total return came in at 26.8%. Both easily outpaced the FTSE All-World Index, which returned 18.0%. Net assets swelled to £13.8bn from £12.1bn a year earlier. Shareholders also received a 4.3% dividend increase to 4.57p per share, marking the 43rd consecutive annual rise.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Scottish Mortgage Investment?
SpaceX was the standout performer, surging 179% in value over the year. Board chair Christopher Samuel described the position as “unusually concentrated,” but the trust’s managers see long-term potential in the company’s Starlink satellite network, which portfolio manager Tom Slater likens to a global connectivity infrastructure with software-like margins. On the listed side, TSMC climbed 99.1%, ASML rose 94.2%, and Nvidia added 57.5%, all riding the same AI wave that Slater calls “the most significant structural change since the internet.”
The AI frenzy is also driving growth in private holdings. Anthropic, a key unlisted holding, saw its annualised revenue explode from $1bn in January 2025 to over $30bn just fifteen months later. During the fiscal year, Scottish Mortgage deployed £254m into private companies including Anthropic, Loyal, and RedNote, compared with £132m a year earlier. The board has authorised an additional £250m for future private investments, keeping the unlisted allocation within the roughly 35% ceiling permitted by investment policy.
Gearing has been trimmed to 11% from 13% a year ago, with average borrowing costs at 3.6%. The trust’s ongoing charges remain low at 0.33%, and no performance fees apply. The immediate catalyst, however, remains the SpaceX IPO. After the listing, a six-month lock-up is expected, followed by a staggered sell-down; the trust plans to offload 20–30% of its holding after the second quarter. Whether that timeline holds — and how the market receives the float — will be the central topic when shareholders meet in the Scottish capital next month.
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