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Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust devoted much of its semi-annual report to the prospects for Moderna biotech and the SpaceX rocket launcher, two of its investments that helped increase its net asset value during this period.
The USA fund,
a component of the FTSE 250 MCX,
reported that the net asset value of its six months ending November 30 had jumped 54%, bringing its total assets to £ 810.3million excluding loans made.
The fund said 2021 looked like “the light at the end of the tunnel” by highlighting its investment in Moderna, which it has held since the 2018 IPO. Moderna’s mRNA,
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 be entering a new era in drug development. One of the real platforms, where success breeds success. A cohort of biotech companies are emerging, building on foundational technologies that can be reused across multiple diseases and disease categories. We think Moderna could be one of those companies, ”the fund said of Moderna, which makes drugs based on mRNA, the intermediate molecule between DNA and proteins. “We are moving from a world of spaghetti to developing wall-mounted drugs to something closer to industrial manufacturing.”
The fund has invested 12% in unlisted companies such as SpaceX, the rocket and spacecraft maker founded by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. “SpaceX has innovated at a breathtaking pace. 2020 was the year America once again sent astronauts to the space station. SpaceX’s crewed mission was a first for a private company. Starlink, SpaceX’s high-speed broadband satellite service, is operational in beta, with more than 900 satellites orbiting Earth and providing the Internet to users. And in Texas, SpaceX quickly developed its Starship rocket, the vehicle it hopes will bring people back to the moon and then to Mars, ”the fund said.
He also had kind words for Tesla TSLA,
Musk’s publicly traded electric car company is the fund’s largest stake, accounting for 9.5% of the fund. “On its recent battery day, Tesla paved the way for further halving battery costs. The way we produce, store and consume energy is changing rapidly. For the best. The end of carbon is drawing near, ”the fund said.
The larger FTSE 100 UKX,
was a fraction less, with limited trading as the U.S. stock exchanges are closed for Martin Luther King Jr.’s vacation.
Genus GNS Animal Genetics Group,
rose, after saying that its performance in the fiscal second half ending June 30 will be ahead of previous expectations. Its swine genetics unit in China and its bovine genetics units in Brazil, Russia, India and China saw strong growth, the company said.
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