Video

International Growth Q2 review

July 2026 / 24 min

Overview

In this webinar, investment specialist Katie Muir reviews the International Growth Strategy’s performance and positioning through Q2 2026.

View transcript
<p><strong>Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Donna Neil (DN):</span></strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"><strong> </strong>Good morning all, and good afternoon from a sunny Edinburgh. Welcome to the second quarter International Growth Webinar. My name is Donna Neil, and I'll be your host for the next 20 minutes or so. I'm delighted to be joined today by Katie Muir, one of our International Growth Investment Specialists. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Before we get started, just a quick reminder that the information discussed in today's webinar is based on the Strategy and may differ ever so slightly from the vehicle that you're invested in. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Our plan this morning is to provide you with an update on the international equity market backdrop, as well as portfolio performance, positioning, and a brief outlook. As always, we would like this to be as interactive as possible, so please do use the Q&amp;A button at the bottom of your screen, and we'll do our best to get through your questions. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">I'll start by touching briefly on our latest AUM figures. As at the end of June, the firm had just over US$260bn in assets under management, of which around US$42bn is invested in the International Growth Strategy. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">As a reminder, International Growth is one of our flagship international equity strategies launched in 2003. It's an active global equity strategy focused on long-term patient ownership of exceptional growth companies and is built around the belief that a small number of outliers drive the majority of wealth creation.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Okay, housekeeping done, let's jump into it. Once again, the previous quarter certainly isn't short of talking points. So, with that, Katie, perhaps I can hand over to you to start by setting the scene on the market backdrop?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Katie Muir (KM):</span></strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Thanks, Donna. And hi, everyone, good morning. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">I think the most important feature of the market has been just how quickly a single narrative can come to dominate returns. And that narrative, of course, is the AI narrative. More specifically, I think, is the companies that are supplying the semiconductor and hardware infrastructure behind it. What that's done is it's produced quite a polarized market. The visible and perceived beneficiaries of AI have performed really strongly, while the market has been really quick to judge, in our opinion, who the AI losers will be. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">And then there's also a number of good businesses completely outside that theme that are being overlooked, even when their operations are continuing to develop well. So, yes, it's been interesting times, but our view is, for patient, selective investors like ourselves, there's a gap that's opened up between share prices and the underlying business performance, and that gap creates an opportunity.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Change remains the source of growth that we're trying to capture in the portfolio for clients, and the market's narrowness is giving us the chance to find really strong businesses whose operational progress is being overlooked. At the same time, we're paying closer attention to how that growth is expressed in the portfolio. We're thinking about the size of individual positions, the extent to which several holdings are being driven by the same underlying factor, like AI, and whether each company brings genuinely different sources of long-term return to the portfolio. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">So, the headline is that the Strategy remains ambitious. We're still focused on great growth companies, but we've been intentionally applying our philosophy to a wider opportunity set to build a better balanced portfolio. I think that is particularly valuable in a world where market leadership can become very narrow very quickly.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>DN:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Great, thanks, Katie. I think it would be good to move on to performance now. It has been a strong quarter for international equities in general. Our portfolio also recovered, although slightly lagging the strong performance of the benchmark. So, talk us through these recent performance drivers.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>KM:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Yes, it was a strong quarter in absolute terms. The Strategy delivered a low-teens return, which in normal markets we'd be pretty happy with. And that's clearly positive, but it's still really disappointing to lag the index.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The main reason was just how narrow the market was. That hurt us on the downside, and it was also a benefit on the upside, as well. On the side [that] the portfolio benefited was really the exposure we have to semiconductor holdings. They've continued to perform very well in both share price terms, but also in operational terms. We've seen multiple companies reporting revenues, profits, and increasing forward-looking guidance, which has really been boosted by demand for the advanced chips that are powering AI. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Just to provide a little bit of background on our semiconductor position, this isn't a new theme that we've jumped on the bandwagon for in International Growth. We've held ASML for more than a decade, TSMC for more than five years, and over the past few years, we've been deliberately broadening exposure to what we think is the world's most valuable supply chain, and which most of it sits outside of the US and international markets. What we've been doing is adding other equipment providers that we think occupy dominant positions in areas that we expect to capture a greater share of value going forward. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">A good example is SK Hynix, the Korean memory maker. We added that name to the portfolio in October last year, and it was the largest contributor to performance this quarter. And I think it's a useful example of both the long-term structural opportunity that we have, but also us demonstrating portfolio construction discipline. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Our original thesis when we first invested in SK Hynix was that high-bandwidth memory was going to become a critical bottleneck in AI infrastructure. At the time, the company's order book visibility suggested that this was more than a normal memory cycle upswing, so we thought there was something more structural going on here, and hence we took a position.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">And the shares have had an exceptional run since. They've risen more than threefold in the recent quarter alone. So, increasingly, the market is also coming to our view about SK Hynix's position. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">So as the position became larger, and increasingly we're seeing other holdings that are driven by similar factors, we decided to take some profits and recycle the capital into new ideas from SK Hynix and from other semiconductor names. That decision is really the outcome of a combined continued conviction in the long-term opportunity, but with disciplined management of the position size, valuation and correlated risk. So, that was one of the main areas of performance. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">But, on the other side, the market's narrow enthusiasm for memory chip companies, in particular, also hurt performance. Samsung Electronics, which is another Korean memory maker which we don't hold in the portfolio – as we looked at it last year, but we preferred SK Hynix – that was actually the largest detractor from performance. That contrast gives you quite a good sense of just how concentrated the quarter's returns were.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Outside of semiconductors, other areas of weakness were holdings linked to Chinese domestic consumption. Companies like car maker BYD, and also digital businesses, faced share price pressure, with the market either concerned about AI disruption or increased company investment levels, which are depressing near-term profit margins. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Maybe it's good to use an example there, and MercadoLibre is probably the best example of that. The company reported record revenue growth during the quarter, so almost 50 percent, which is the highest level in almost three years. But the market reacted negatively because management said it was going to invest more heavily in logistics in Brazil and Mexico, in free shipping, in technology and in financial services. And those investments clearly put pressure on near-term profitability. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">We've got a chart that gives a bit of context for that. So, the chart, hopefully on the screen now, shows MercadoLibre's revenue and operating income over time. And it shows that we've seen this pattern of heavier investment before. During an earlier investment phase in Brazilian logistics back in 2017, 2018, profits actually fell and briefly turned negative. But that spending, that capital allocation decision by management, improved delivery and increased customer trust, and it helped the company to build a much stronger competitive position. What followed, as you can see in the chart, was a significant increase in both revenue and operating profit. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">So, why does that matter? We believe the company is actually making a similar long-term decision today. The opportunity to deepen its ecommerce and financial services ecosystem across Latin America remains really large. Our support for this investment depends on clear evidence that it improves the customer experience and widens their moat. In MercadoLibre's case, we believe it does. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The same is actually true for a number of other companies in the portfolio that are also going through higher investment phases, such as Adyen and Sea [Ltd]. So, the broader performance message is that the market rewarded a small group of perceived AI winners and marked down several businesses that were investing for future growth or perceived to be vulnerable to AI disruption. And in many of those cases, the underlying business performance, the fundamentals, which is what we focus on, was considerably better than the share price reaction suggested. While that's frustrating in the short term, especially when we lag in relative performance terms, that gap actually bodes well for future returns.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>DN:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Great, thanks very much, Katie. That was really interesting. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Just a reminder to all to pop any questions into the Q&amp;A box at the bottom of your screen. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Okay, so moving on, the portfolio saw a bit more activity than is typical during the quarter. Has the investment approach changed? And what drove those decisions behind all this activity?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>KM:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Yes, sure. Our investment approach remains really consistent. We're still looking for exceptional businesses capable of delivering meaningful long-term growth. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">But the recent activity reflects a broader opportunity set and our desire to improve the balance of the portfolio. So, following the strong performance of our semiconductor holdings, which I talked about before, some of those positions have grown to be quite large and are being driven by similar factors, or are more correlated in share price terms. And we’ve therefore reduced selected holdings and reinvested the proceeds across a wider range of industries and business models. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">We continue to have strong conviction in AI as a transformational technology, and also in our semiconductor holdings, so this isn't about a loss of confidence. The portfolio still owns several companies in critical parts of the supply chain and retains meaningful exposure to this theme. The trims are really intended to keep one powerful market narrative from becoming the dominant driver of the overall portfolio, so it's really thinking about portfolio risk and construction.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">On the other side, the market's narrow focus also gave us the opportunity to buy some really high-quality growth businesses that are now trading on more attractive valuations. Roche, the Swiss pharma and diagnostics company, is one example. It's managed a very difficult period of patent expiries within its pharma business really well, we think. And we believe the market may be underestimating the potential of its drug pipeline. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Another example, which is very different, would be DBS in Singapore. DBS is a really high-quality bank operating in what we view as a very attractive, well-regulated banking system exposed to rising Asian wealth. We think that gives it the opportunity to compound earnings, book value, and dividends at attractive rates through cycles. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">We also added a really exciting Chinese biotech company, a Japanese personal care company that has resilient demand and room to expand in emerging markets, and a diversified energy major that really stood out to us because of the quality of its management team as well as the business. But the important point with all these businesses is that they're driven by different sources of demand. That's very deliberate. That gives us, we think, a more balanced portfolio, while still focusing on those exceptional companies, those potential outliers, where we see the greatest long-term potential.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>DN:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Thanks, Katie. The team certainly has been busy.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Okay, stepping back from individual trades, the team often describes a portfolio that is built bottom-up from the individual companies, but where underlying growth is driven by long-term structural change. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">I'm going to bring up a slide we've prepared showing a few examples of companies that we've added to the portfolio over the past year, and the underlying structural growth themes that they’re either driving or benefiting from. So, over to you, Katie, to maybe talk us through these companies and these themes?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>KM:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Yes, sure, thanks, Donna. We picked three examples here which illustrate, I think, how varied the international opportunity set can be. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The first is Lonza, which we added to the portfolio earlier in the year. It's exposed to the growth of biologic medicines. Biologic drugs are becoming a larger part of the pharmaceutical market. The chart shows that they're growing at an annualized rate of about 10 percent a year. But they are much more complex to manufacture than traditional chemical compound drugs. And that creates an opportunity, a really attractive opportunity for a specialist such as Lonza, which is a contract manufacturing company. It has global manufacturing facilities, technical expertise in manufacturing complex biologic drugs, and also a regulatory track record – because these drugs and how they're manufactured has to be approved by the regulator, and that is something that the pharma and biotech companies that it serves need. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The second, the chart in the middle, is CATL. CATL is a Chinese company. It's best known as the world's leading producer of electric vehicle batteries. But batteries are also becoming increasingly important to electricity grids as more renewable power is added. One of the other side effects of the AI-driven demand is the need for energy and power, so energy storage is going to become increasingly important. We think CATL's scale, its manufacturing knowledge, and the investment in new technologies give it a really strong position in driving this new energy market.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The third is SK Hynix, which we touched on earlier. As AI models become larger and more complex, they require much more memory and much greater bandwidth. So, high bandwidth memory, which is the type where- [feed drops for a couple seconds]. To make and qualifying a product with leading customers, which includes the likes of NVIDIA and others, is a really demanding process. We think that creates meaningful barriers to entry and also a more structural growth driver in what has typically been a more cyclical, commoditized memory market. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">But as much as we have alignment with these themes, our process really begins with the company. It's about that bottom-up fundamental research. We're looking for companies that have a capability that's scarce, we're asking why what they do is difficult to replicate. And we're also asking how much of the value created from this structural growth can that company retain. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">So, the structural themes provide context and they're powerful long-term drivers of demand, but it's the company-specific competitive advantage that actually drives our investment case. So, that's the link between these three businesses. They're exposed to very different areas of structural change – health innovation, energy systems, and advanced computing – and each possesses capabilities that are difficult to reproduce. But their return drivers are distinct, while the strength of their competitive edge is really the common thread here.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>DN:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Fantastic. Three really exciting and very important companies there.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Okay, so let's leave the viewers with the answer to the big question: Why are we confident about the International Growth portfolio from here? Again, I'm going to bring up a slide to help illustrate the opportunity. So, over to you again, Katie, please.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>KM:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Great, thanks Donna. Okay, so in short, we're confident because the portfolio now offers what we think is a particularly attractive combination of growth, financial strength and valuation. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">If you look at the aggregate level, which is at the portfolio level, which is shown on this slide, the underlying companies are expected to deliver stronger earnings growth and sales growth than the index on the far left. But in the middle you can also see that they've got higher margins, higher profit margins that is, lower debt, so less reliance on financial leverage, stronger returns on equity and other balance sheet returns. And they're investing more in future growth, which you can see through the higher levels of research and development spend. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Those characteristics really matter, particularly in a more volatile or difficult market. So, strong businesses can continue to invest through difficult periods. and they can do so using the profits they're generating and free cash flow without using debt, which is a really powerful position to be in, while at the same time, weaker competitors may have to pull back. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The other important point here is valuation. The portfolio trades at a premium to the market. We're prepared to pay a premium for companies with stronger growth and quality characteristics. But that premium, given recent moves we've seen in diverging share prices, is now much more modest than it was several years ago, and in fact looks around the same level it was a decade ago. In our view, that makes for a really attractive starting point from here in terms of returns. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The final important point, and it builds on what I was talking about in terms of activity and the environment earlier, is that the portfolio also has, we think, today, a broader set of potential return drivers than it did a few years ago. We're retaining meaningful exposure to areas like semiconductors in the AI build-out, where long-term conviction remains high, but we've been deliberately adding differentiated sources of growth across healthcare, across financials, consumer businesses, energy and other areas. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">So, the ambition of International Growth remains unchanged, we're still finding exceptional companies capable of delivering meaningful long-term growth. But today, we think that ambition is supported by a broader opportunity set, a better-balanced portfolio, and a more attractive valuation starting point. And in a world of greater change, greater dispersion, we think that is a very compelling position from which we can invest.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>DN:</strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US"> Fab, thanks Katie. I think that's an excellent and optimistic note on which to end.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">I'd just like to draw everyone's attention to a couple of short articles that we have in the resources section. I would encourage you to take 10 minutes or so to read those, along with a wider range of insights available on our website. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Big thank you for joining us today. As a reminder, we have our Emerging Markets webinar on Monday, and finish the series with International Concentrated Growth on Tuesday. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">Should you have any other questions or would like to learn more about any of our strategies, please do reach out to one of your relationship managers. Once again, thanks for joining and goodbye.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p> <h3>International Growth</h3> <p><strong>Annual past performance to 30 June each year (%)</strong></p> <table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-width: 0px; height: 74.0001px;"> <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: 51.5217%;">&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; text-align: right; width: 9.78261%;"><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; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;"><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; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;"><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; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;"><strong>2025</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; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;"><strong>2026</strong></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18px; width: 51.5217%;">International Growth Composite (gross)</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18px; text-align: right; width: 9.78261%;">-45.0</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18px; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;">16.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18px; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;">6.1</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18px; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;">20.0</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18px; text-align: right; width: 9.65217%;">4.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 51.5217%;">International Growth Composite (net)</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.78261%; text-align: right;">-45.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">15.6</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">5.5</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">19.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">3.4</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 51.5217%;">MSCI ACWI ex US Index</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.78261%; text-align: right;">-19.0</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">13.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">12.2</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">18.4</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6641px; width: 9.65217%; text-align: right;">28.3</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><strong>Annualised returns to 30 June 2026 (%)</strong></p> <table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-width: 0px; height: 93.0001px;"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 37px;"> <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: 37px; width: 61.3043%;">&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: 37px; width: 13.0435%; text-align: right;"><strong>1 year</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: 37px; width: 12.6522%; text-align: right;"><strong>5 years</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: 37px; width: 12.913%; text-align: right;"><strong>10 years</strong></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 61.3043%;">International Growth Composite (gross)</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.0435%; text-align: right;">4.0</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.6522%; text-align: right;">-3.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.913%; text-align: right;">9.9</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 61.3043%;">International Growth Composite (net)</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.0435%; text-align: right;">3.4</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.6522%; text-align: right;">-3.8</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.913%; text-align: right;">9.3</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 18.6667px;"> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 61.3043%;">MSCI ACWI ex US Index*</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.0435%; text-align: right;">28.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.6522%; text-align: right;">9.3</td> <td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.913%; text-align: right;">10.5</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span class="source-text">*MSCI EAFE Index prior to 30 September 2018</span></p> <p><span class="source-text"><strong>Source: </strong>Revolution, MSCI. US dollars. Net returns have been calculated by reducing the gross return by the highest annual management fee for the composite. 1 year figures are not annualised.</span></p> <p><strong>Past performance is not a guide to future returns.</strong></p> <p><span class="source-text">Legal notice: MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, endorsed, reviewed or produced by MSCI. None of the MSCI data is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such.</span></p> <h3>Risk factors</h3> <p>This communication was produced and approved in July 2026 and has not been updated subsequently. 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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.</p> <p>All information is sourced from Baillie Gifford &amp; Co and is current unless otherwise stated.&nbsp;</p> <p>The images used in this communication are for illustrative purposes only.</p> <h3>Important information</h3> <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.</p> <p>Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited provides investment management and advisory services to non-UK Professional/Institutional clients only. Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford &amp; Co. Baillie Gifford &amp; Co and Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited are authorised and regulated by the FCA in the UK.&nbsp;</p> <p>Persons resident or domiciled outside the UK should consult with their professional advisers as to whether they require any governmental or other consents in order to enable them to invest, and with their tax advisers for advice relevant to their own particular circumstances.</p> <p><strong>Financial intermediaries</strong></p> <p>This communication is suitable for use of financial intermediaries. Financial intermediaries are solely responsible for any further distribution and Baillie Gifford takes no responsibility for the reliance on this document by any other person who did not receive this document directly from Baillie Gifford.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span class="source-text">202607 10064480</span><span class="source-text"></span></p>

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