Scottish Mortgage leaps as ‘bold’ board pledges £1bn on share buybacks

Scottish Mortgage (SMT) shares jumped over 5% today, sharply narrowing their wide discount to net asset value, after the company announced it would buy back at least £1bn of its own stock over the next two years.

Analysts hailed the ‘bold’ move by the £11bn Baillie Gifford global equity flagship, which fund manager Tom Slater said showed conviction in its public and unquoted investments as it recovers from a mauling in the growth selloff of 2022. 

‘We feel very positive about the portfolio,’ Slater told Citywire, saying he had seen a ‘surge’ in cashflow from the trust’s group of technology disrupters as they adapted to a new environment of higher interest rates and cut costs, but maintained ‘the pace of progress, the pace of change – that rhythm has not missed a beat in the past two years.’