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Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (Baillie Gifford)Article12 Aug 2026Source: bailliegifford.com

Baillie Gifford Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust Factsheet

In plain words

This report is about Edinburgh Worldwide, a fund that invests in small, early-stage companies with breakthrough technologies—like space, quantum computing, and gene editing. The managers are optimistic about these frontier areas long-term, but admit the fund will swing more than the market and isn't for nervous investors. It returned 23% over the past year, yet lost 23% over five years—so recent gains follow a long weak stretch. Top holdings: Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX, 20%), PsiQuantum (a private quantum-computing firm, 4.3%), and Xometry (a digital manufacturing marketplace, 3.8%). The report didn't list any buy or sell moves for the month.

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Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust plc is a specialist global small-cap investment trust focused on listed and private companies at the forefront of technological innovation, aiming to achieve long-term capital growth through early-stage investment in companies with disruptive growth potential; th

~7 min full read · 4 sections
Deep Analysis

This Month's Scorecard

As of 31/07/26: 1-year NAV return +23.3%, share price +21.2%, both outperforming the benchmark S&P Global Small Cap Index's +20.0%; however, 5-year NAV cumulative return stands at -23.4% versus the benchmark's +41.9%, still significantly lagging over the long term. The report does not disclose monthly returns, providing only rolling and fiscal-year measures; it also provides no stock-level attribution data.

Measure 1Y 3Y 5Y 10Y
Share price 21.2% 51.8% -29.0% 146.3%
NAV 23.3% 30.3% -23.4% 134.0%
Benchmark 20.0% 40.3% 41.9% 148.2%

Discrete fiscal-year performance (total return, GBP-denominated, dividends reinvested):

Fiscal year (to 30/06) 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26
Share price -51.5% -18.9% +4.4% +17.5% +67.9%
NAV -42.4% -11.4% -7.1% +12.8% +63.5%
Benchmark -11.3% +8.2% +10.5% +4.5% +33.0%

How the Manager Views the Market

[Optimistic (at the long-term strategy level), no stance on short-term market direction] The report contains only strategic statements with no current-month market outlook; the core stance is to continue backing early-stage companies at the frontier of technological innovation, explicitly accepting the volatility that comes with not tracking the index.

  • Portfolio positioning: listed and private companies at the "frontier of technological innovation and change," seeking long-term capital appreciation through early engagement with emerging enterprises that have significant disruptive growth potential.
  • Index stance: does not seek to track the comparative index, so volatility relative to the index is inevitable. Quote:

> "The portfolio does not seek to track the comparative index, hence a degree of volatility against companies index is inevitable."

> (i.e., the portfolio does not track the comparative index, so volatility relative to the index is unavoidable.)

  • Risk diversification mechanism: 60–100 companies spanning at least 6 countries and 15 industries; up to 25% of total assets (at initial investment) may be allocated to private companies, currently 10.6%.
  • Position structure clues (the scarcest data in this report): Active Share 99% (almost zero overlap with the benchmark); Annual Turnover 21% (low turnover, long holding periods); Gross Gearing 3%, Net Gearing 0% (borrowings fully offset by cash, effectively no net leverage).
  • Note: the report describes risk diversification as "60–100 companies, 6 countries, 15 industries," but same-page data shows the top ten positions account for 47.6%, the largest position Space Exploration Technologies accounts for 19.9%, and 5-year NAV trails the benchmark by roughly 65 percentage points—this is a product-level description from the holder's perspective, and readers should view it alongside the risk data.

Position Moves

This report discloses no month-over-month position openings, additions, reductions, or closures; the following is the static position structure as of 31/07/26. None of the companies listed in the report include buy/sell direction, only market-capitalization weightings.

Regional allocation (net current assets 2.4%):

Region Weight Sub-item Detail
North America 70.9%
Asia 11.6% China 3.3%, Taiwan 3.2%, Japan 3.0%, South Korea 1.3%, India 0.8%
Europe 6.4% Israel 3.2%, Switzerland 1.6%, others not listed
United Kingdom 5.0%
Australasia 2.3%
South America 1.4%
Net current assets 2.4%

Top ten positions total 47.6% (the report gives no actions or commentary on any position; the following is weighting data only):

# Holding % of Assets
1 Space Exploration Technologies 19.9%
2 PsiQuantum 4.3%
3 Xometry, Inc. 3.8%
4 Twist Bioscience 3.5%
5 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals 2.8%
6 Axon Enterprise 2.8%
7 Guardant Health 2.7%
8 JFrog 2.7%
9 Astera Labs 2.6%
10 ASPEED Technology 2.5%

The industry distribution covers 23 industries in total; the report lists the top 20 by position size but provides no specific weightings, led in order by: Diversified Telecommunication Services, Software, Biotechnology, Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment, Health Care Providers & Services, Aerospace & Defense, Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components, Trading Companies & Distributors, Electrical Equipment, Health Care Equipment & Supplies, Life Sciences Tools & Services, Machinery, IT Services, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate Management, Consumer Finance, Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail, Technology Hardware, Metals & Mining, Diversified Consumer Services.

Fund Details

Total assets £891.79m, total borrowings £26.01m, ongoing charges 0.85%, zero dividend yield; net leverage of zero, no dividends paid, targeting pure capital appreciation.

  • Key metrics: NAV 250.31p, share price 232.50p, discount 7.1%; ongoing charges 0.85% (AIC basis, per latest annual report); dividend yield Nil.
  • Management team: Douglas Brodie (Partner), Luke Ward, Svetlana Viteva; management fees charged on a tiered basis on net assets—0.75% on the first £50m, 0.65% on the next £200m, and 0.55% on the remainder, paid quarterly.
  • Key risk warnings (directly relevant to this portfolio structure): the report states that private company assets are harder to sell and valuations may be inaccurate; "if a private company's value rises significantly, it may become a large part of the portfolio, which increases investment risk because the impact is greater when its value falls"—private companies currently account for 10.6%, leaving room before the 25% cap.
  • Target investors: suited to capital-growth investors with an investment horizon of 5+ years who can tolerate losses; not suited to those seeking regular income or concerned about short-term volatility, and no capital protection is provided.