The £300 million Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust plc said on Friday its net asset value (NAV) per share total return was 16.2% compared to 16.0% for the FTSE All-Share Index total return in the six months to October 31, 2025.
The investment trust’s share price total return for the same period was 17.7% as the fund’s discount narrowed to end the period at 9.6%.
“Just Group, St James’s Place, AJ Bell and Renishaw were notable contributors to positive absolute and relative outperformance,” said the fund.
“Of the larger holdings, Autotrader, Wise and Experian were notable detractors to absolute and relative performance, and not owning banks and Rolls Royce also detracted.
“One new position was initiated in the period, Spirax, the engineering business. The position in First Derivatives was exited following a takeover and a number of positions reduced to fund the new purchase and the buybacks. There were 37 companies held in the portfolio as at 31 October 2025 and net gearing stood at 8%.”
Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust plc invests to achieve capital growth predominantly from investment in UK equities with the aim of providing a total return in excess of the FTSE All-Share Index total return.
The fund’s biggest investments at October 31 also included Games Workshop, Howden Joinery, 4imprint, Moonpig, Prudential, Legal & General, animal genetics company Genus, ventilation products firm Volution Group, credit rating company Experian, and Wise.
Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust chairman Neil Rogan said: “Many of the companies we hold are already showing that they are able to grow even if the UK economy remains lacklustre.
“The real excitement would come if the UK was able to unleash its growth potential.
“While we wait impatiently for that to happen, a repeat of what we have just seen, a closing of the UK’s valuation discount and earnings growth from the companies we hold, would be a positive outcome.”
Managers of the investment trust Iain McCombie and Milena Mileva wrote: “We don’t pretend to know what happens from here, other than one of the things we look for in the management teams and businesses we own is their adaptability. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that we should expect a company to buck the cycle in the industry it operates in, but we do expect its management to be clear sighted about the near-term challenges without sacrificing the long-term opportunities.
“This is not an easy task and can sometimes bring short term pain for shareholders. The rewards, however, were illustrated by a couple of stocks in the period that performed extremely well.
“The first was the annuity insurer Just Group which was the most positive contributor to the portfolio’s performance in the period. It agreed to a takeover from a Canadian financial services business at a significant premium to the prevailing share price.
“This has been a trying investment at times for us as the market has stubbornly refused to give credit to an impressive management’s ability to grow the business in a disciplined and low risk manner.
“As the fundamentals, in our opinion, remained compelling, we stuck with the position, so we had mixed feelings when the Just Group board accepted an offer at what we think is a reasonable, but not generous, valuation. As we doubted that a rival bid would appear, we decided to reduce our holding in Just Group to fund purchases elsewhere in the portfolio and, in part, the shares that have been bought back by the Company in the period.
“The wealth advice manager St James’s Place has also been a challenging investment in recent years, with bad publicity about its charging structure and not all clients receiving the service the regulator expects. However, the shares outperformed strongly following the new management team’s clear and firm actions, to address the historic issues, appearing to bear fruit.
“New business volumes have also exceeded expectations suggesting that customers continue to trust the brand. The management of St James’ Place has always remained confident that St James’s Place offers a compelling proposition for customers to save and invest with trusted advice that its exclusive sales force is well positioned to offer.
“Undoubtedly, a rising stock market was helpful for St James’s Place and that tailwind also helped the investment platform AJ Bell, which has undergone significant growth in customers and assets in its direct-to-consumer business.
“Finally, in terms of good performers, the share price of engineer Renishaw recovered strongly although it should be remembered that it was a prime example of a share badly hit by tariff fears in the previous period.”