BAILLIE Gifford US Growth Trust praised the achievements of the modern biotechnology company and the SpaceX venture of businessman Elon Musk, in revealing that he had drastically superior performance in the first half.
And now he sees “a chance to be at the beginning of the end” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The £ 810 million investment fund recorded a 53.8 percent return on net asset value for the six months to 30 November. The S&P 500 index posted a 11.1% return in sterling terms.
Baillie Gifford US Growth noted that Moderna, which it has held since 2018, is “one of the biotechnology companies that has been at the forefront of developing vaccines against coronavirus”.
Moderna is among several players who have achieved the vaccine’s success.
Confidence said: “After a long and dark year, we entered 2021 with light at the end of the tunnel. Countries around the world are beginning to vaccinate their populations. The number of people whose immune systems are prepared to fight the coronavirus is growing every day. We should not be complacent and there is still a long way to go, but there is a chance that we are now at the beginning of the end of the pandemic. We have to thank science for that. Vaccine development has traditionally taken years. ”
He added: “In addition to capital and will, modern science has been an important catalyst for this advance … The coronavirus vaccine is Moderna’s first commercial product. Its approval has an important reading for Moderna’s drug development platform more broadly. ”
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Looking at the big picture, the trust said that “the pace of innovation is accelerating and spreading” and that “this should be a fruitful environment for growth investors”.
Declaring that SpaceX was “innovating at an exciting pace,” he added: “2020 was the year that the United States sent astronauts to the space station again. SpaceX’s manned mission was the first for a private company. Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite-based high-speed broadband service, is up and running in beta, with more than 900 satellites orbiting the Earth providing Internet to users. And in Texas, SpaceX has rapidly developed its Starship rocket, the vehicle it hopes will take people back to the Moon and then to Mars. ”
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Between its launch on March 23, 2018 and November 30, 2020, the return on the fund’s net asset value was 185.7%. This compares to a 56.2% return for the S&P 500 index.