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<p><strong>Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Cherry Reynard (CR)</strong>: Good morning, I'm Cherry Reynard, your host for Upfront, where we bring you the latest insights on Baillie Gifford's UK funds. Today, I'm speaking with investment specialist Qian Zhang, who'll be answering your questions live, so do send them in by clicking on the dropdown menu on your screen.</p> <p>Before the audience questions, we have client relationship manager Natalie Beattie introducing Accton Technology, the company architecting modern networks. But first, investment specialist Philip Rae joins us to discuss growth opportunities in the US amid ongoing uncertainty.</p> <p>Welcome to Upfront.</p> <p>[Intro sequence]</p> <p>Welcome, Philip.</p> <p>Now, to quickly introduce you to the audience, you are an investment specialist on the US Growth Team and have been with Baillie Gifford since 2021.</p> <p>So, welcome. Now, let's start by looking at the US economy. How would you characterise where it stands right now? I mean, it feels like quite a pivotal moment.</p> <p><strong>Philip Rae (PR)</strong>: It does. It does feel like a pivotal moment, and I'll make sure I get to that.</p> <p>I think for our viewers, it's maybe just worth backing up for a second and reminding ourselves why you just can't ignore America. I think there's a couple of things. The first one is just the sheer size of the US. The US is about a quarter of global GDP, and if you look at global stock market indices, it's close to two-thirds of those.</p> <p>Now, it's got there because of the very strong returns it's delivered. If you go back to the financial crisis, the US has compounded returns at about 15 per cent per annum since then. So very strong returns, but the important thing to acknowledge is that that has been underpinned by very strong earnings growth. And that earnings growth has really exceeded other regions around the world.</p> <p>And that leads me to the second point that's sort of driven that earnings growth, and that's around innovation. I think it's really hard to argue that there's any country that can rival the United States in its ability to produce the most innovative and successful businesses in corporate history. Now, we can sort of debate why that is, and I think there's a few good reasons, but I think that truism holds today just as it did 5, 10, 15 years ago.</p> <p>Turning to this current moment in time, there's two big things going on right now in the US that I think are driving the narrative. The first would be that the US has basically produced the next big technology revolution with artificial intelligence. So we can all cast our minds back to 2022 and that Chat GPT moment.</p> <p>And then the second thing would be, the US is dealing with its own issues right now. You think about political fragmentation, trade wars, you've got conflict going on now in the Middle East, unfortunately. And if I was to sort of summarize that, really the US is reevaluating its role in the world.</p> <p>Now, those are two big changes, and change can feel uncomfortable, and certainly markets don't like uncertainty. But I think for us, change provides the very conditions that can create the next set of outliers. So you think about back post the TMT bubble bursting, the likes of Amazon and Alphabet came out of that environment, or coming out of the financial crisis and the app economy that was born, companies like Netflix and Uber, incredible businesses.</p> <p>And so, we focus on understanding those big structural drivers of change and looking for companies that we think can compound growth over long periods of time.</p> <p>The final thing I'd just say is, borrowing from Warren Buffett, who said that it's never paid to bet against America, given that track record for producing incredible growth businesses, we'd agree with that. We don't think it's a good idea to bet against America's potential for growth and innovation.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned AI there, which has obviously been a huge growth topic over the last few years. Other countries are sort of muscling in. How strong do you feel the US’s position really is?</p> <p><strong>PR</strong>: So I think it looks really strong. You look across that AI value chain today, and America dominates almost every aspect of it.</p> <p>So you can start with the obvious place, which is NVIDIA. It's got a near monopoly in AI chips. You can move to the hyperscalers, so that's the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta. Those are the companies that are investing huge amounts of capital to the tune of $700bn this year into AI infrastructure. So that's all the chips, the networking, the servers and data centres.</p> <p>And you should bear in mind that America already starts from a headstart position. It's got nearly half of the world's data centres located there today. So that's one half of the value chain. The other side is, we're all using these AI models, these cutting-edge models, the likes of ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude model, those are American companies. So America dominates this new intelligence there that's forming, as well. And if you go to the more early-stage area, some of the applications, and think about global venture capital, most of it is going to American companies.</p> <p>So, the US has this formidable position right across that value chain from the compute through to the intelligence there, and some of these very early-stage applications. So very exciting potential there.</p> <p>And then if you sort of step back and think about the history of, in terms of those technology revolutions, the US has led [many] of those. [If] you think about mobile, internet, personal computer, the US has dominated each of those. And that's because each has been built on the previous technology. And I'd say it seems to be shaping up the same for artificial intelligence, which is incredibly exciting for US investors.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Yeah, absolutely. And what about looking beyond AI? I mean, what other pockets of growth are you seeing in the US?</p> <p><strong>PR</strong>: So plenty, I would say, Cherry. The US market is a good reminder. It's a broad, deep market and there's diverse opportunities across a range of different industries.</p> <p>If I was to highlight a couple of examples, we invest in a company called Ensign, which is a skilled nursing facility operator in America. And this is a company where people get treated for long-term injuries, chronic conditions and such. Now, it's got a very patient, long-term orientated management team who carefully acquire other facilities, and then they improve them operationally, and importantly, improve patient outcomes in the process.</p> <p>That's all very nice, but actually, it's a great business as well. This is a company that's compounded earnings in the mid-teens levels for well over a decade, so a great growth business doing something well outside of technology.</p> <p>The other one I'd mention is an aggregates business called Knife River. Now, this is a company that produces all the materials that go into the construction of roads and railways and bridges and these sorts of things. Again, it's a well-trodden playbook that methodically acquires subscale players and integrates them into its operations. and it benefits from economies of scale over time. Another one where we see a highly fragmented industry and it has the opportunity to continue acquiring those other players to benefit growth over time.</p> <p>So, the opportunities in the US are broad and deep and that's very exciting for us as investors in that market because there's such a range of different growth businesses on offer there.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Yeah, absolutely.</p> <p>I mean, the trouble with AI is inevitably you feel there may be casualties. And I feel like the market, certainly in the early part of this year, has sort of been scouting around looking for who might those casualties be.</p> <p>Software companies have been hit hard. I wonder if you can just quickly talk about why that's been happening.</p> <p><strong>PR</strong>: Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's been a very painful period for that industry. It's been the worst sell-off in software for 30 years. I think the important thing to say is that's been almost entirely felt in valuations so far.</p> <p>Now, why has that happened? Well, going back to those AI model companies I mentioned, the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, their latest cutting-edge models have made a leap forward in terms of their capabilities. And specifically, they're incredibly good at generating and automating the production of code.</p> <p>Now, the market’s sort of extrapolated this, that AI is going to commoditise software. And we don't think that's the case. It could potentially commoditise the production of code, yes. But software companies are much more than just the code on which they're written.</p> <p>We think that the value in that industry is changing. The choke point that was once the production of code is moving deeper into the system. So, there's going to be new choke points like governance, like security, trust, proprietary data. Those things are going to matter more in the future, not less.</p> <p>The other thing I'd say is that, if software is becoming cheaper and easier to produce, we should probably expect a lot more of it in the future. So, there's opportunity here as well as the risk, which I think goes overlooked.</p> <p>And if I was to maybe just bring it to life with an example: a company we invest in called Samsara. This is a company that takes physical assets and turns them into intelligent systems through sensors and data.</p> <p>So, Cherry, maybe you run a trucking company in the US and you've got trucks crisscrossing the United States, you want to know where those vehicles are, you want to know how long they've been on the roads for, are there any issues perhaps around breakdowns or safety, the driving of those vehicles. Samsara's intelligent systems can provide you that data to make smarter decisions.</p> <p>Now, AI is just enhancing this business model, it provides more intelligence into that ecosystem. This is proprietary data to Samsara, so we think [is] really boosting the value proposition there.</p> <p>And if I was just to make a broader point, I think what we are seeing from a lot of our portfolio holdings is strengthening business models. These are well-skilled businesses, technical founders, they understand how to leverage data and technology, and AI is just amplifying advantages that already existed.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay, great. We will wrap up there. Thanks so much for joining us today, Philip.</p> <p><strong>PR</strong>: Thank you very much.</p> <p>Now, for those of you watching live, if you have any questions, simply click on the ‘Ask a Question’ tab.</p> <p>Now, as part of each program, we feature an in-depth look at some of the transformational companies Baillie Gifford invests in. Today, we're learning about Accton Technology, a critical but largely invisible supplier powering hyperscale data centre networks.</p> <p>[Stock story transition]</p> <p><strong>Natalie Beattie</strong>: When we think about the future of technology – AI, cloud computing, everything becoming faster and more connected – it can be easy to focus on the software. But behind every AI breakthrough sits something much&nbsp; more physical: vast data centres moving unimaginable amounts of data every second of the day.</p> <p>These data centres may be rarely seen, but they operate on a small town’s worth of power, packed into rows of windowless boxes.</p> <p>That’s why we invest in Accton Technology in Taiwan – a company that makes networking switches used in modern data centres. These switches connect thousands of servers, so that they can operate as one system.</p> <p>Now, this can be difficult to visualise – so imagine a data centre as a city, where the servers and GPUs are like the buildings, and then the cables connecting them would be like the roads. And Accton’s switches are like the traffic lights, directing the flow of traffic. So without them, everything would back up – and performance would collapse.</p> <p>AI has only accelerated the demand for Accton’s switches – because at scale, AI doesn’t work without fast, reliable networking.</p> <p>In the past, this networking equipment was sold with both the hardware and the software bundled together. That made it expensive and meant that the market was dominated by a handful of large suppliers.</p> <p>Accton saw an opportunity to take a different approach. It focused on manufacturing the high-quality hardware only – letting their customers run their own software on top. So for large cloud companies, this is cheaper, more flexible, and easier to upgrade as the technology evolves.</p> <p>Accton also has a second business in producing AI accelerator cards. These handle the most demanding calculations so that the main chips can run faster and more efficiently.</p> <p>So the company is now in a position to benefit from two powerful needs: connecting AI servers, and helping them to perform better.</p> <p>Accton still isn’t a household name, but it’s hard to replicate what it does — and what gives us confidence is how deeply embedded it is with its customers. Its relationships with hyperscalers like Amazon, and now Meta, are built on a long track record of delivering the right products at the right time, even as the technology keeps moving.</p> <p>So whilst the tech may sound complex, the business case is very straightforward: Accton operates in a specialised niche, has built a dominant market position, and benefits from deep customer relationships. And, as AI becomes more central to our lives, the infrastructure holding everything together is becoming more valuable – and that’s exactly where Accton sits.</p> <p>[Stock story transition]</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: That was client relationship manager Natalie Beattie introducing Accton Technology. The company isn't a household name yet, but if you believe AI, cloud and data traffic will keep growing, then companies building the underlying infrastructure are worth keeping an eye on.</p> <p>Now to move on, we're joined by Qian Zhang for a fund update.</p> <p>[Fund update transition]</p> <p>So, welcome. Quick introduction: you've been with Baillie Gifford since 2021, an investment specialist within the Emerging Markets client team.</p> <p>I want to start by reflecting on 2025, which was a really strong year for emerging markets. What do you think drove returns over the year? And how did the Baillie Gifford portfolio perform?</p> <p>Yeah, sure. It's always good to reflect, isn't it? So, Cherry, if you imagine you and I are at the beginning of 2025, if I tell you we will have a tariff war, there will be regional conflicts between India and Pakistan, [the] Middle East, and [the] gold price will shoot above $5,000 USD. And then I will tell you emerging markets will end up one of the best performing asset classes among public equities, you’d probably think I'm joking, but here we are.</p> <p>So, at the index level, [the] EM index in sterling terms returned more than 25 per cent last year. And what drove it? There are several ways to look at it from a macro perspective.</p> <p>We have come out from a very prolonged period of [a] very strong US dollar. But stubborn US inflation, and also very high physical deficits have actually pushed the dollar to be weaker in 2025. Well, a weaker dollar isn't necessarily the prerequisite for EM to outperform, but it did help.</p> <p>And from another perspective, there are increasing resilience within emerging markets themselves. Many policymakers within emerging markets have made orthodox policies since the pandemic. As a result, inflation dynamics, external balances are in a [much] better position than the previous cycles.</p> <p>So, to some extent that is being recognized by the market. And from a micro perspective, many emerging market businesses have built themselves into an indispensable, or very important, position among many global structural trends, be it the semiconductor hardware for artificial intelligence, for green transition, for industrial upgrade, or the domestic big market within emerging markets themselves.</p> <p>So, our Fund has performed quite well under that backdrop, returned more than 33 per cent in Sterling terms in 2025, versus the index 25 per cent, as I mentioned.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: And any particular regions, sectors, themes that you'd highlight from the year?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Yeah, so there were two main themes that have been driving the market in the recent 12 to 18 months or so.</p> <p>The first one is AI hardware. Many of the hyperscalers might be headquartered in the US, but the things that actually power them to work, the manufacturing of cutting edge semiconductors, actually mostly happen in Asian companies. So, as long as we talk about AI capex going up, it is actually going east.</p> <p>Taiwan and Korean companies are the best examples here, and they have been growing their real revenue and profit at a phenomenal speed. And some of them, the capacity is sold out for the next two years. Korea has been particularly doing well last year, also thanks to the government reform on corporate governance, treating shareholders better, and that is a thing that is welcomed by the market as well.</p> <p>But importantly, emerging markets isn't only an AI story. For example, we have seen broad strengths in the commodity space, especially in copper and [the] likes of lithium. In our Fund, we had exposures in both, [which] have been supported in terms [of] a share price perspective, but in general, higher commodity prices [are] also supported [in] areas like Latin America.</p> <p>So, in sum, those two themes have been working very well. But what is most important, we observe is there has been a broad base of performance rather than [it being] driven by one theme or one region or one sector. And that's very important, because that means you have more than one engine at work.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Yeah, yeah. And after that very strong run, have you seen valuations become more demanding or are there still plenty of opportunities for you to explore?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Yeah, so that's quite an important question to us. I think it's useful to put that into context, into historical context. The strengths in 2025 with emerging markets outperforming, came after a long period of more than a decade of relatively lackluster returns compared with developed markets.</p> <p>If we look at historical patterns, there have been periods that emerging markets were able to outperform developed markets. And what we observe is when performance turns, they tend to run for multiple years. And valuation, indeed, after last year, it has gone up, but we don't feel it's demanding yet. And in fact, when you look at the discount of emerging markets in general, from a price-to-earnings ratios perspective, it's at the historical highest discount over developed markets.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay. So, actually, the recent strength could be sustained. It's not necessarily just a one-off rebound.</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Yeah, that's a very important bet as well, because ultimately as investors, what you look after is long-term returns rather than just a good year. We do think we might be at the beginning of a longer term of EM outperformance cycle, because some of the key conditions are aligned.</p> <p>What we call that is the three M conditions: it's macro, micro and markets.</p> <p>Now, from a macro perspective, I've alluded to some of those already, a few of the key countries have been following very orthodox policies. And as a result, from inflation, external balance perspective, there [is] a lot more resilience compared with the previous cycles. And as we headed towards a more multipolar world, as supply chain, trades and capitals are more diversified at a global base, that actually gives EM a broader opportunity set to perform under that. That's from a macro perspective.</p> <p>From a micro perspective, I've mentioned about many EM businesses [that] have been building themselves to [be] fully embedded, or deeply embedded, in a lot of global trends. So, without the cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing capability from most of the Taiwan and Korean companies, the AI revolution wouldn't scale. Without the key materials, where a lot of them are only resources, are only found in emerging markets, without those, the green transition, the power upgrade, the data centre build out, et cetera, [that] we're talking about wouldn’t progress.</p> <p>Emerging markets today are no longer just producers for western customers, as we used to know for the past 30, 40 years. Increasingly, the vast domestic demand from rising EM middle class themselves are met by domestic goods and service providers, and that’s generated a lot of opportunities for long-term stock pickers like us as well. So that's macro-micro.</p> <p>And then, the last one is markets. The good news is, we're not being asked to pay a lot extra to get that level of growth. Our Fund has a growth premium with its index. That means the average holdings, we're estimating them to grow faster from an earnings perspective than the index, but with a flat valuation, ie the flat price-to-earnings ratios versus the index. So that means growth is being offered with attractive valuation. And we think that's why we think macro, micro, markets, the three M's, are aligned.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay, great. Now, we talked about the AI opportunity in the US with Philip, but China and other emerging markets also have strong AI credentials. How are you positioning the Fund to kind of capture that opportunity?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Yes, so I mentioned about more than one engine at work, and that's quite critical in terms of our portfolio construction. There are four major themes, at the moment, in our Fund.</p> <p>The first is this AI hardware, as I mentioned. Taiwan and South Korea are key manufacturers of cutting-edge memory chips. But we also go beyond that, thinking about who would be the alternative winners in that scenario. China is very keen to build a self-sufficient technology ecosystem. Are there any chip producers or designers in that ecosystem that we could look forward to? That's one.</p> <p>And then we also move on to the second bottleneck of this whole AI revolution is energy and materials. So, a lot of them do exist in emerging markets, as I mentioned, the likes of copper, the likes of lithium and other key metals as well. So that's theme number two.</p> <p>Theme number three is the large domestic consumer market, as I mentioned. There are very different flavours depending on [what] EM countries’ own developments are. But as I mentioned, a lot of the increasing demand from domestic customers are being met by domestic goods and service producers, and there are plenty of different flavours or choices from that.</p> <p>The last theme, we call it the beneficiaries of a multipolar world. So as long, as we discussed about, the US and China are competing with each other [on] every front, there are a lot of countries with large populations that are actually sitting in the middle. They don't want to pick a side, they want to thrive, and they want to trade more with both sides.</p> <p>So the likes of southeast Asia, the digitalisation of a large population, a large consumer market there, the likes of Vietnam, which is one of the best choices for supply chain repositioning from China to China plus one, are the beneficiaries of that.</p> <p>So four large themes: AI and AI related, energy and materials are the second bottleneck, the large domestic market, and the beneficiaries of multipolar world.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay, great. We'll wrap up there. Thank you so much, Qian. Stick with us for the Q&amp;A.</p> <p>Now, to answer the questions that have been coming in over the programme.</p> <p>[Your questions transition]</p> <p>Okay, let's see what questions we've been asked.</p> <p>You mentioned a differentiated China exposure. How does that differ from the index and why does that matter now?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: That's a very good question because China is arguably the most exciting, the most dynamic opportunity set we have within emerging markets, but it also comes with a higher level of complexity.</p> <p>We now in the Fund have a flat position from a headline perspective versus the index. But beneath that, the composition of our China allocation looks very different from the index, and that is deliberate. In other words, we want the stock selection to do the heavy lifting work for us rather than make a headline top-down allocation of more or less in China, because of the specific concerns on politics, geopolitics, etc.</p> <p>So when you look at our top ten holdings in our China allocation in the Fund, most of them have a relatively light weight in the index, and that is deliberate. When we look at some of the large allocations we have, some of those are mineral or material producers, taking into the theme that we mentioned just now, and some of the hand-picked consumer names that can benefit more from the domestic opportunities, citing China as the second largest consumer market in the world.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay, great. Now, at what point did you invest in Accton, and have you trimmed at all following the strong performance?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: We have invested in Accton for a number of years. The key thesis behind that is they are a niche, but [an] almost indispensable node in the supply chain. If we're thinking about [how] more computing is needed, more volume is needed, and we need that to be faster, stronger, and in much, much higher volume. So the structural growth story is there.</p> <p>In terms of the positioning, there are times we would fiddle around [with] that, I mean, recognising [that] the fundamental case is there. What we'll mostly do is, if the market performance is very, very good, and then you would have inflation, in the positioning size. So you originally go with that size, [then] because it outperformed the rest of the portfolio or the rest of index, it inflated to a larger position. And that comes with also larger concentration risk. So, we will do the risk management or the portfolio construction considerations of that, of trimming it, when we see perhaps the concentration risk has been inflated to a certain extent.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay, and then a very relevant question for the current environment: How do you see an increase in oil prices impacting EM?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Yeah, so it's a very multi-faceted factors behind that. I think there are probably three or four layers to answer this.</p> <p>The first of all, from our investment universe perspective, there are obviously energy stocks, there are oil stocks, we would have an oil [unclear] which would be benefiting from a higher oil price. There are refinery companies which potentially benefit from what we call a higher crack spread, so that you earn a higher profit margin because the refinery products are getting more price depreciation.</p> <p>There are impacts from a secondary perspective on different countries. So, typically, a very blunt rule is the oil exporter countries are perhaps more benefiting, I mean, outside [the] Middle East, and the oil importing countries are perhaps suffering or having more challenges from there.</p> <p>I think from a Fund perspective, firstly, we have very little exposure in Middle East listed stocks. I mean, purely because of reasons like, [the] majority of them, we don't feel they fit our growth hurdle. And we do have a moderate overweight in energy. [It] wasn't because of this we react[ed] like that, it’s more because of the portfolio construction and the research perspective.</p> <p>And we do have an overweight in the likes of Brazil, which is an oil exporter, and an underweight in the likes of India, which is an oil importer. So, from a portfolio perspective, there is a certain resilience that we built in terms of the oil price hikes and the energy stocks indeed in the portfolio have been very much supported recently.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: Okay, great. And then one final question: What's the one compelling reason advisors should revisit emerging markets now?</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Yes, so I would say emerging markets is underrepresented in the global indices comparing with the importance of the GDP growth, contribution to the world, the importance of the companies that I mentioned in global trends. And, on top of that, most of the global fund managers are underweight in emerging markets still.</p> <p>So it's likely that all the views that we discussed just now, people agree with that, but it's very likely that the positionings have yet to catch up.</p> <p>So as I mentioned, the discount between emerging markets and developed markets are actually at a historical high. So, there is a valuation discount and there is a positioning gap to catch up. And we do think it's perhaps, with the three M's – the micro, macro and markets aligned – we might be at the beginning of a longer cycle of EM out-performance and people should have a look at it.</p> <p>Okay, great, that seems a good point to finish. Thank you so much for joining us today, Qian.</p> <p><strong>QZ</strong>: Thank you very much.</p> <p><strong>CR</strong>: And thank you, too, for joining us today. Now, to find out more about the topics we've discussed on the programme, please go to the website, bailliegifford.com.</p> <p>The UK Intermediaries Team are here to help, so get in touch if you have any questions.</p> <p>Until next time, goodbye.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3 class="TABLEHEADER1212pt">Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Growth Fund</h3> <p class="TABLEHEADER1212pt"><strong>Annual past performance to 31 December each year (net %)</strong></p> <table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-width: 0px; height: 56.0001px;"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 33.4992%;">&nbsp;</td> <td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;"><strong>2021</strong></td> <td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;"><strong>2022</strong></td> <td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;"><strong>2023</strong></td> <td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;"><strong>2024</strong></td> <td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;"><strong>2025</strong></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 33.4992%;">Class B -Acc</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; -7.7</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; -18.4</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 8.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 5.5</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 33.2</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 33.4992%;">Index*</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; -1.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; -9.6</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 4.0</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 10.0</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 25.1</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; width: 33.4992%;">Sector average**</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; -0.5</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; -12.2</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 4.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 8.2</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 13.267%;">&nbsp; 21.9</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span style="font-size: 0.75em;">Source: FE, Revolution, MSCI. Total return net of charges, in sterling. Share class returns calculated using 10am prices, while the Index is calculated close-to-close.</span></p> <p><span class="source-text">*MSCI Emerging Markets Index</span></p> <p><span class="source-text">**IA Global Emerging Markets Sector</span></p> <p><strong>Past performance is not a guide to future returns.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>The Fund’s objective is to outperform (after deduction of costs) the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as stated in sterling, over rolling five -year periods. The manager believes this is an appropriate target given the investment policy of the Fund and the approach taken by the manager when investing. In addition, the manager believes an appropriate performance comparison for this Fund is the Investment Association Global Emerging Markets Sector. There is no guarantee that this objective will be achieved over any time period and actual investment returns may differ from this objective, particularly over shorter time periods.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Important information and risk factors</h3> <p>This communication was produced and approved in March 2026 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time and may not reflect current thinking.&nbsp;</p> <p>The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.&nbsp;</p> <p>This communication contains information on investments which does not constitute independent research. Accordingly, it is not subject to the protections afforded to independent research, but is classified as advertising under Art 68 of the Financial Services Act (‘FinSA’) and Baillie Gifford and its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned.&nbsp;</p> <p>Baillie Gifford &amp; Co and Baillie Gifford &amp; Co Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Baillie Gifford &amp; Co Limited is an Authorised Corporate Director of OEICs.&nbsp;</p> <p>The specific risks associated with the <strong>Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Growth Fund</strong> include:&nbsp;</p> <p>- Custody of assets, particularly in emerging markets, involves a risk of loss if a custodian becomes insolvent or breaches duties of care.</p> <p>- The Fund invests in emerging markets, which includes China, where difficulties with market volatility, political and economic instability including the risk of market shutdown,&nbsp;trading, liquidity, settlement, corporate governance, regulation, legislation and taxation could arise, resulting in a negative impact on the value of your investment.</p> <p>- The Fund's concentrated portfolio relative to similar funds may result in large movements in the share price in the short term.</p> <p>- The Fund has exposure to foreign currencies and changes in the rates of exchange will cause the value of any investment, and income from it, to fall as well as rise and you may not get back the amount invested.&nbsp;</p> <p>- The Fund's share price can be volatile due to movements in the prices of the underlying holdings and the basis on which the Fund is priced.&nbsp;</p> <p>Further details of the risks associated with investing in the Fund can be found in the Key Investor Information Document or the Prospectus, copies of which are available at <strong><a rel="noopener" href="http://www.bailliegifford.com" target="_blank" title="Baillie Gifford website">bailliegifford.com</a>.</strong></p>