RNS Announcement
The Schiehallion Fund Limited
Legal Entity Identifier: 213800NQOLJA1JCWXQ56
Regulated Information Classification: Half Yearly Financial Report
The following is the unaudited Interim Financial Report for the period from incorporation on 4 January 2019 to 31 July 2019 which was approved by the Board on 5 September 2019.
Message from the Chairperson
It is with pleasure that I present the Board's first Interim Report for The Schiehallion Fund Limited (the 'Company' or 'Schiehallion') for the period from incorporation on 4 January 2019 to 31 July 2019. The Company raised gross proceeds of US$477 million at launch on 27 March 2019†.
During the period from 27 March 2019 to 31 July 2019, the Company's share price and NAV returned 17.5% and 1.2% respectively.
Since shares opened for trading on the London Stock Exchange they have climbed steadily, on thin trading volume, to a premium of approximately 16.5%. The premium is a function of supply and demand for the Company's shares in the secondary market. The Company has authority to issue further shares if the Directors determine such issues to be in the best interests of shareholders and the Company as a whole.
Further information about the Company's portfolio is covered by our portfolio managers, Peter Singlehurst and Mark Urquhart, in their Interim Management Report.
Linda Yueh
Chairperson
5 September 2019
Summary of Results (unaudited)
For the period from 27 March 2019, launch and first day of trading, to 31 July 2019
|
31 July 2019 |
27 March 2019† |
|
% change |
Shareholders' funds |
US$481.25m |
US$475.64m |
|
Net asset value per ordinary share |
100.84¢ |
99.66¢ |
1.2 |
Share price |
117.50¢ |
100.00¢ |
17.5 |
Premium |
16.5% |
0.3% |
|
Number of shares in issue |
477,250,002 |
477,250,002 |
|
Market capitalisation |
US$560.77m |
US$477.25m |
|
|
Period from 4 January 2019# to 31 July 2019 |
|
Revenue earnings per share |
(0.04¢) |
|
Notes
* For a definition of terms see Glossary of Terms and Alternative Performance Measures at the end of this announcement.
† 27 March 2019, the date the Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
# Date of incorporation of the Company.
Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Interim Management Report
Our Approach
The Schiehallion Fund Limited (Schiehallion) was conceived because many of the world's most exciting companies are choosing to remain private for longer. In our view, this has led to a concentration of exceptional and rapidly growing companies in the later stages of private markets. It is also causing a shift in where shareholder value might accrue. Schiehallion was also founded on a belief that these companies could arise anywhere in the world. The portfolio we have assembled to date supports both hypotheses. Furthermore, by breaking down the artificial divide between private and public company investing, the Company's shareholders are in a strong position to benefit from these changes.
Portfolio Update
As at the date of this report, we have invested in eight private companies, based in China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. These holdings represent a diverse range of businesses - from space travel to bus travel, and from luggage to low cost foreign exchange. However, what they all have in common is their potential to become many times bigger over our investment horizon. Of these eight companies, five will have revenues in excess of US$100 million in 2019, three of which will be greater than US$1 billion. Between 2017 and 2018 their combined revenues more than doubled in US dollar terms. Our contention that there is a wide variety of exciting and high-growth businesses in the late-stages of private markets is borne out in the portfolio we have built over this initial short period.
We are bottom-up stock pickers - every company in which we invest must have excellent prospects on a fundamental basis. However, we do observe how wider changes are altering companies' operating environments and opportunity sets. One of the major trends we have seen over recent years is the extension of the disruption that has transformed media and retail into other industries. Many of these fields are both large and relatively untouched by the technological change of the last few decades. This presents enormous opportunities, but also inevitable complexity in navigating the vested interests of the status quo.
Looking to examples in the portfolio, something as traditional as bus travel has been given a new lease of life by Flix, as it uses technology to make booking tickets easier and route planning better. The result is a greatly enhanced customer experience. Luggage is an industry that, like so many others, might have been thought immune to the disruptive power of the internet. Yet today we see Away using online distribution and savvy social media strategies to create a new brand with high-quality products in a market that has not evolved in decades. Carbon is following where many others have failed, in trying to use 3D printing to disrupt the US$12 trillion industrial manufacturing market. However, it is doing so with an offering that is cheaper, faster and more versatile. As such its technology is being enthusiastically adopted by an ever-growing number of partners. We believe that investing in companies working to transform these relatively unchanged industries should be a rich seam for Schiehallion.
The nature of our investment approach means that we see these types of companies first in the private markets and can support, and benefit from, their rapid growth years before they become public companies. Our pipeline of opportunities continues to grow and contains companies operating in an increasingly diverse range of sectors.
Outlook
When Schiehallion was launched we stated it would be reasonable to expect that we could invest at least two-thirds of the capital raised within the first two years. Our current pace of investment puts the Company well on track to meet this milestone, but it would be a mistake to view it as an objective. Rather, the rate of investment will be an output of the number of high-quality companies we find worthy of the capital entrusted to Schiehallion by its shareholders.
Private companies have the luxury of choosing their shareholders and our ability to access high-quality businesses remains of fundamental importance. Several of the investments we have made for Schiehallion have been in private companies in which Baillie Gifford is already a shareholder. As a result, we have good relationships with management and have been following the businesses' progress closely. These include SpaceX, Carbon, TransferWise, Tempus and HeartFlow.
Furthermore, we continue to be encouraged by the new deal flow we are experiencing. We have looked at approximately 150 private financing rounds in the first months of Schiehallion's existence. This provides fantastic opportunities and brings a welcome challenge - selecting only the very best investments for the Company's shareholders.
In addition to the holdings sourced from Baillie Gifford's existing relationships, the three brand new investments that we deemed worthy of shareholders' capital are Away, ByteDance and Flix. Whenever we look at a private financing round we ask ourselves whether we have a competitive advantage, either in accessing or analysing the businesses in question. These three companies nicely encapsulate the access advantages we believe we have as private market investors. The opportunity to invest in Away came from an introduction by the CEO of another Baillie Gifford-sourced private investment. We invested in ByteDance following a direct approach from 77the company, after a few years of getting to know the business and team. Likewise, we first began research on Flix in 2016 and the company subsequently approached us directly when planning its most recent financing. These relationships reflect the attractiveness of Baillie Gifford's approach as a long-term supportive investor, and the rare access it provides for our shareholders to invest in exceptional growth businesses.
We are optimistic about the outlook from this point, both for the companies in which the Company has already invested and the pipeline of opportunities that we are working on. Thank you for being a shareholder in Schiehallion.
The principal risks and uncertainties facing the Company are set out in note 15.
Investment Objective and Policy
Investment Objective
The Company's investment objective is to generate capital growth for investors through making long-term minority investments in later stage private businesses that the Company considers to have transformational growth potential and to have the potential to become publicly traded.
Investment Policy
In making its initial investment in a business, the Company will seek to invest in private businesses which it considers have the potential to become admitted to trading on a public stock exchange. Those investments will typically take the form of equity or equity-related instruments (which may include, without limitation, preference shares, convertible debt instruments, equity-related and equity-linked notes and warrants) issued by investee companies.
The Company will only invest in private businesses that are considered to have some or all of the following features:
¾ the potential to grow revenue and earnings multiple fold over the long term;
¾ scalable business models that should enable those businesses to grow into their opportunity;
¾ robust competitive advantages;
¾ exceptional management teams;
¾ an entry price which significantly undervalues the long-term opportunity for the business; and
¾ an ambition and ability to become stand-alone public companies.
Investee companies may be from any sector and any geography (save as set out below). While there are no specific limits placed on exposure to any one sector, the Company will at all times seek to invest and manage the portfolio in a manner consistent with spreading investment risk.
With prior approval of the Board, the Company may permit the use of derivatives for the purpose of currency hedging, though it currently does not expect to do so. Save for this and for investments made using equity-related instruments as described above, the Company may not engage in derivative transactions for any purpose.
The Board does not intend to use structural gearing with a view to enhancing equity returns on investments. The Company may employ gearing on a short-term basis for the purpose of bridging investments and general working capital purposes. The Company may in aggregate borrow amounts equalling up to 10% of net asset value, calculated at the time of drawdown.
The Company is subject to the following investment restrictions:
¾ an investee company must be a private investee company at the time of the Company's initial investment in that investee company. The Company may, however, make subsequent investments in the investee company, even if the investee company has been admitted to trading on a public stock exchange in the period since the Company's initial investment;
¾ a private investee company must have a value of at least US$500 million at the time of the Company's initial investment in the private investee company. This restriction will not apply to the Company's subsequent investments in the investee company, if any;
¾ the Company may not make an initial investment in a private investee company which exceeds in value 10% (calculated at the time of investment) of the most recently published net asset value (save to the extent that breach of this 10% limit is due to a change in the value of the Company's invested assets or currency fluctuations from the time of the Company's firm commitment to make the investment to the time of investment);
¾ the Company may not make any investment in a private investee company that would cause the value of the Company's holding in that private investee company to exceed 19.9% (calculated at the time of investment) of the most recently published net asset value; and
¾ the Company may not make any investment in an investee company that would cause the Company's holding in that investee company to exceed 20% (calculated at the time of investment) of the total issued share capital of the investee company.
A reference to the value of assets of the Company (including investee companies) referred to in the restrictions above shall be to value as determined in accordance with the Company's valuation policy from time to time.
The Company does not currently expect the portfolio to be majority invested in public investee companies at any point in time, but it has not set a limit on the percentage of the portfolio which can be invested in public investee companies at a given time.
It is intended that the Company will, subsequent to the initial investment period of two years from the date of Admission, be substantially invested in normal market conditions. However, the Company may at any time hold overnight or term deposits or, pending investment in investee companies, invest in a range of cash equivalent instruments such as US Treasury Bills or money market funds. There is no restriction on the amount of cash or cash equivalent instruments that the Company may hold.