Scottish Mortgage Taps Resurgent Demand with £43m Premium Share Sale as SpaceX Bet Swells to 19% of Assets

The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust has completed a £43.4 million share issuance at a premium to net asset value, marking the latest sign of a dramatic reversal in investor sentiment. The fund sold 2.85 million treasury shares at 1,521.59 pence each, capitalising on the revival in demand that has lifted its stock from a 20% discount just two years ago to a current 8% premium.

The placement comes on the heels of a record-breaking fiscal year that saw the trust’s NAV total return hit 27.4%, well ahead of the FTSE All-World Index’s 18%. The share price itself delivered a 26.8% total return over the same period, and has since climbed roughly 30% in euro terms from the start of 2025, closing at €18.07. Net profit surged to £3.1 billion from £1.22 billion the prior year, lifting earnings per share to 275.31 pence from 94.57 pence.

At the heart of the turnaround lies a single, outsized bet: SpaceX. The private rocket company is now the fund’s largest holding, valued internally at £2.98 billion as of 31 March 2026 — a 179% increase over the fiscal year and roughly 19 times the original investment. Manager Tom Slater noted that the trust uses a $1.25 trillion valuation for SpaceX, deliberately below the $1.75 trillion figure derived from secondary market transactions linked to its merger with xAI, relying instead only on verifiable deals as validated by Baillie Gifford and S&P Global.

Yet SpaceX also introduces the most pronounced concentration risk Slater has acknowledged as “highly unusual for us”. The stake now represents nearly one-fifth of the entire portfolio. For perspective, the trust’s next largest public holdings — TSMC at 5.72%, MercadoLibre at 3.99%, and Amazon at 3.56% — are far smaller. The risk is compounded by SpaceX’s financials: the company reported a first-quarter 2026 net loss of $4.27 billion on total assets of $102 billion and debt of $60.5 billion. Any re-rating of SpaceX’s story will hit Scottish Mortgage disproportionately.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Scottish Mortgage Investment?

The fund’s broader private-market exposure totals 41.6% spread across 53 unlisted holdings, a structure that grants access to high-growth companies otherwise out of reach for most investors. Anthropic recently achieved a $900 billion valuation, and Stripe topped $150 billion in its latest funding round. In April 2026, shareholders approved an additional £250 million capacity for private investments, even as the 30% limit on unlisted holdings was reached.

The immediate catalyst, however, is the anticipated SpaceX IPO, expected as soon as June. Slater cautioned that the trust has yet to learn the lock-up terms for existing shareholders — typical pre-IPO restrictions last around six months — but noted that as a closed-end fund, Scottish Mortgage faces no redemption pressure and can hold its SpaceX shares well beyond the listing date. That flexibility could prove critical if the market has already priced in a post-IPO revaluation.

The trust’s dividend streak continues uninterrupted: a 4.3% increase brings the full-year payout to 4.57 pence per share, marking the 43rd consecutive annual rise. The final dividend of 2.97 pence per share is expected to be paid on 10 July, following approval at the annual general meeting on 2 July at the National Galleries of Scotland. The ongoing charges ratio remains low at 0.33%, while gearing has fallen to 11% from 13% a year earlier, reflecting the rise in portfolio value.

Scottish Mortgage Investment at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.

Chairman Christopher Samuel used the annual report to flag geopolitical tensions and regulatory uncertainties that could complicate the market backdrop. But for now, the trust’s ability to issue equity at a premium — after spending more than £3 billion on buybacks since early 2024 to support the share price during the discount phase — signals that the narrative has shifted decisively. Whether the premium holds post-IPO will be the real test of whether the market has gotten ahead of itself or correctly priced in SpaceX’s potential.

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