The Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust has dedicated much of its half-yearly report to the prospects for Modern Biotechnology and the SpaceX missile launcher, two of its investments that have helped raise its net asset value over time.
US Fund,
a component of the FTSE 250 MCX,
reported that the value of net assets from six months to 30 November increased by 54%, bringing its total assets to GBP 810.3 million, excluding loans.
The fund said 2021 looked like “the light at the end of the tunnel” because it highlighted its investment in Moderna, which it has held since the initial 2018 public offering.
The COVID-19 vaccine is its first commercial product.
“Success with one drug tells you nothing about the likelihood of success with the next. But we may enter a new era for drug development. One of the real platforms, where success generates success. A cohort of biotechnology companies is being formed that are based on fundamental technologies that can be reused in many diseases and disease categories. We believe that Moderna could be such a company “, said the fund about Moderna, which produces drugs based on mRNA, the intermediate molecule between DNA and proteins. “We are moving from a world of spaghetti to the development of wall medicines to something more like industrial production.”
The fund has invested 12% in unlisted companies, such as SpaceX, the maker of rockets and spacecraft founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “SpaceX has innovated at an astonishing rate. 2020 was the year America sent astronauts back to the space station. The SpaceX-equipped mission was a first for a private company. Starlink, SpaceX’s high-speed satellite-based broadband service, operates 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 to take people back to the moon and then to Mars, ”the fund said.
He also had good words for Tesla TSLA,
Musk publicly traded electric car company and the fund’s top stake, accounting for 9.5% of the fund. “On the recent battery day, Tesla has charted a path to halving battery costs. The way we produce, store and consume energy is changing rapidly. For the better. The end of carbon is getting closer and closer “, said the fund.
FTSE 100 UKX wider,
was by a smaller fraction, as trading was limited as US stock markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Animal Genetics Group Genus GNS,
rose, after saying its performance in the second half of fiscal ended June 30, will exceed previous expectations. Its porcine genetics unit in China and bovine genetics units in Brazil, Russia, India and China have seen strong growth, the company said.