Funds: Baillie Gifford Positive Change Baillie Gifford Positive Change versus target performance and sector performance

The three-year and five-year performance of the fund is in line with its two objectives of generating attractive long-term returns and contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive world.

‘We define attractive long-term returns as 2% per annum ahead of the MSCI ACWI over a fiveyear timeframe. It has been hard to achieve the returns we wanted [over the past 12 months] but what can be said [on the upside] is that many of the companies in our portfolio are making strong operational progress which is set to continue in the future.’

WHAT NEXT FOR THE FUND?

Capital appreciation is the focus of the fund and is not a ‘facilitator of steady income’ says Rankin. The negligible historic yield of 0.22% reflects this.

‘We see clients positioning the Baillie Gifford Positive Change Fund in their portfolios as a driver of long-term growth.’

Rankin does not expect any dramatic changes to their portfolio going forward. ‘We are very long-term in our investing horizon, five or 10 years ahead.’

In terms of emerging themes, the fund’s investment managers have been looking towards ‘financial inclusion’.

‘Within the portfolio we have a Kenyan-based mobile communications company Safaricom (SCOM:NASE) which has its M-Pesa platform –a mobile phone-based money transfer service launched in 2007 by Vodafone (VOD) and Safaricom. Safaricom has helped drive financial inclusion in Kenya, particularly our research showed in female-headed households.

‘We are also investing in language technology company Duolingo. The ability to offer high quality language technology for free is transformational for some people.’

By Sabuhi Gard Investment Writer