Trustnet Magazine 62 May 2020 | страница 8

Advertorial feature 14 / 15 [ BAILLIE GIFFORD ] Growth stocks have generally fared better than value stocks during the coronavirus pandemic, helping Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust during the worst of the stock market falls. Joint manager Tom Slater explains why Why this crisis favours growth stocks The value of your investment and any income from it can go down as well as up and as a result your capital may be at risk. Tom Slater, joint manager of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, has seen crises come and go. They’ve mostly led value stocks to outperform their growth counterparts. Not this time. The difference, Slater points out, is that the crisis had nothing to do with economic conditions. Its unprecedented circumstances have favoured growth companies, forcing change on existing industries and causing us to rethink entirely how we interact. “If you can’t go out and meet people face-to-face, then you want to use consumer internet technology companies to socialise,” he suggests. “If you can’t go into the office to work, then I think the tools of remote working become really important. You also see an acceleration of some of the big trends that have been driving these changes.” While acknowledging that some of the moves and practices may unwind once normality returns, he is equally convinced that others will become more ingrained. “The video conferencing market has been tiny for years, because the “If you can’t go out and meet people face-to-face, then you want to use consumer internet technology companies to socialise” TRUSTNET trustnet.com