Scottish Mortgage heading for where

[Dod101]

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/SMT/update-hb0bzwfzn5vj8lb.html
An RNS with a brief update from the Chairman

As also reported on Citywire https://citywire.com/funds-insider/news ... fea=362428. Having lost my entire investment in Slater's father-s Slater Walker Investment Trust many years ago, I do hope I won't see a repeat performance. Just my luck (or incompetence) to buy SM at the wrong time.

Are they father and son?

Dod

[Dod101]

So you do not believe the RNS. It is not fulsome re the director concerned but I accept what the RNS has to say.

Dod

I believe both, they're not contradictory.

Indeed that is I guess true but of course is it such a big deal? Good that there is diverse opinions I guess.

Dod

[Bouleversee]

As also reported on Citywire https://citywire.com/funds-insider/news ... fea=362428. Having lost my entire investment in Slater's father-s Slater Walker Investment Trust many years ago, I do hope I won't see a repeat performance. Just my luck (or incompetence) to buy SM at the wrong time.

Are they father and son?

Dod

I believe so.

[Dod101]

Are they father and son?

Dod

I believe so.

The reason I ask is that I thought I read somewhere when this came up before that they were unrelated.

Dod

[scrumpyjack]

Tom Slater of Baillie Gifford is nothing to do with Mark Slater, who is son of the late Jim Slater

[Dod101]

The Lex column of the FT has its story on the boardroom disagreement this morning and on the face of it they might be on to something.

The FT tells us that the dissenting director has been asked to leave (which is not quite what the Chairperson said in the RNS yesterday afternoon.)

However there does seem to be a question worth asking about corporate governance, quite apart from the actual make up of the investments.

According to the FT, the Chair, Fiona McBain, has been a Director since 2009 and may now lack independence. She is also on the Boards of Currys and Direct Line, neither of which has been a huge success recently! Three of the other six board members have been in place since 2015.

All of that is for the Directors and shareholders to do something about.

The dissenting director Amar Bhide has apparently questioned whether portfolio managers at Baillie Gifford had enough time to focus on the private holdings in the portfolio and their limit was raised some time ago to 30% of assets. Presumably because of the drop in NAV, borrowings have now reached a 10 year high of 17%. I have not checked any of these numbers but have taken them from the FT comment.

Anyway, that is why directors are there and they should be questioning what is going on. I am sure that BG will be discussing all of this behind the scenes and I would think we can expect some action from them, but the corporate governance issue is one for the Directors and I hope that Fiona McBain is reflecting on these matters this weekend.

Dod

PS There is also a news item in which the dissenting director is quoted. Pretty obvious that he is not 'one of us' ie a member of the rather cosy world of directors of UK investment trusts and has thus upset the Chair with the temerity to question the criteria for new directors. Good for him, up to a point anyway.

[Lootman]

Presumably because of the drop in NAV, borrowings have now reached a 10 year high of 17%.

If that number is correct then, given also the uncharacteristically high discount to the quoted NAV, the share price could do very well if its holdings have a good run from here. Seems to me that tech is holding up quite well whilst banks and other cyclical sectors have hit a rocky patch.

For those of us who were not as smart as you and did not sell at much higher levels, then selling now looks like compounding that failing by throwing in the towel at or near the bottom.

[scrumpyjack]

Presumably because of the drop in NAV, borrowings have now reached a 10 year high of 17%.

If that number is correct then, given also the uncharacteristically high discount to the quoted NAV, the share price could do very well if its holdings have a good run from here. Seems to me that tech is holding up quite well whilst banks and other cyclical sectors have hit a rocky patch.

For those of us who were not as smart as you and did not sell at much higher levels, then selling now looks like compounding that failing by throwing in the towel at or near the bottom.

.

I am in the same position and similarly will not be selling but will wait to see how it runs. I think the key factor will be how the unquoted investments turn out. Much of the apparent discount for SMT (and others like RCP) will be down to the market lacking confidence in the valuations given to the unquoted investments. SMT say they have a rigorous process to review these valuations frequently but only time will tell. All these manager say how careful they are in selecting unquoted investments and only go in where they are confident the value will double in 5 years. We shall see.

ps the other factor in the gearing increasing will be share buybacks

[Dod101]

Presumably because of the drop in NAV, borrowings have now reached a 10 year high of 17%.

If that number is correct then, given also the uncharacteristically high discount to the quoted NAV, the share price could do very well if its holdings have a good run from here. Seems to me that tech is holding up quite well whilst banks and other cyclical sectors have hit a rocky patch.

For those of us who were not as smart as you and did not sell at much higher levels, then selling now looks like compounding that failing by throwing in the towel at or near the bottom.

I think that this is a good time to at least be hanging in if not actually buying. I certainly will be doing nothing. A good boardroom spat will do no harm.

Dod

[Bouleversee]

Tom Slater of Baillie Gifford is nothing to do with Mark Slater, who is son of the late Jim Slater

I didn't mention Mark Slater but someone told me that Tom Slater was Jim Slater's son. If not, I have been misinformed though I thought I had read it somewhere as well.

[scrumpyjack]

Tom Slater of Baillie Gifford is nothing to do with Mark Slater, who is son of the late Jim Slater

I didn't mention Mark Slater but someone told me that Tom Slater was Jim Slater's son. If not, I have been misinformed though I thought I had read it somewhere as well.

Google says Jim Slater had one son, Mark, though Wikipedia says he had 4 children. I had only looked at the Google search when I made the previous post

Updated: Chatgpt says they are not related! It says Mark Slater has a brother called Jim Slater as well as being the son of Jim Slater
All these Slaters are investment managers!

[Dod101]

I didn't mention Mark Slater but someone told me that Tom Slater was Jim Slater's son. If not, I have been misinformed though I thought I had read it somewhere as well.

Google says Jim Slater had one son, Mark, though Wikipedia says he had 4 children. I had only looked at the Google search when I made the previous post

Updated: Chatgpt says they are not related! It says Mark Slater has a brother called Jim Slater as well as being the son of Jim Slater
All these Slaters are investment managers!

And here was I thinking you had some inside information! With respect, people should not make definitive statements if they are relying on the likes of Google. We can all do that.

I had an idea though that I found out to my satisfaction that Tom Slater was not related to JIm Slater. Not sure it matters anyway but all the same........

Dod

[nmdhqbc]

one of the unquoteds i believe...
https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=38452

[yorkshirelad1]

Just catching up with today's papers. The FT (today, Sat 18 Mar 2023) (and no doubt others) has a fine collection of items on SMT.
(for each of the items, I give a url to the article on ft.com which is probably paywalled, a link to the article via a google search or twitter which should probably not be paywalled, and a link via archive today which should not be paywalled)

page 16 main section: Scottish Mortgage board roiled by conflict (article on website has title 'Scottish Mortgage seeks non-executive’s exit after boardroom clash')
https://www.ft.com/content/c5da6dca-ffd3-4199-88a4-5f3857e58df5
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Aft.com+scottish+mortgage
http://archive.today/2023.03.17-043653/https://www.ft.com/content/c5da6dca-ffd3-4199-88a4-5f3857e58df5

page 22: Lex: Scottish Mortgage plan overboard
https://www.ft.com/content/bd00299d-978d-412c-97c8-c902cfbe707e
https://t.co/P9nxgmx9sI (via ft's twitter)
http://archive.today/2023.03.17-162808/https://www.ft.com/content/bd00299d-978d-412c-97c8-c902cfbe707e

page 6 Money Section: Comments by 'Wolvercote' appended to one of John Lee's articles ("My Isa has suffered - but I'm still a firm believer")
https://www.ft.com/content/c3f5dc49-9019-437b-88ff-28d0e2a60efa
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Aft.com+isa+suffered
http://archive.today/2023.03.07-063434/https://www.ft.com/content/c3f5dc49-9019-437b-88ff-28d0e2a60efa (doesn't seem to include comments)
Here's a screenshot:

('Wolvercote' doesn't post in TLF under another name by any chance .....?!)

And finally, not in the FT, but for my own curiousity, a long term graph of the SMT shareprice

[Bouleversee]

How depressing and how unlike my own ISA portfolio whose many constituents are mostly in red ink. I wonder which boring and dependable shares he has. At one point my collective ISAs were valued at getting on for a million but sadly a fair bit of that has recently been shaved off. I was doing rather well with SMT, though hadn't invested all that much in it, but most if not all of the gains have now disappeared. I gave up buying the FT some time ago as I don't have to read it but perhaps I should chuck The Times and Sunday Times instead, not that I always get to read them either. I thought John Lee had stopped writing for the FT. I might just pop out and buy a copy.

[Dod101]

Just catching up with today's papers. The FT (today, Sat 18 Mar 2023) (and no doubt others) has a fine collection of items on SMT.
(for each of the items, I give a url to the article on ft.com which is probably paywalled, a link to the article via a google search or twitter which should probably not be paywalled, and a link via archive today which should not be paywalled)

page 16 main section: Scottish Mortgage board roiled by conflict (article on website has title 'Scottish Mortgage seeks non-executive’s exit after boardroom clash')
https://www.ft.com/content/c5da6dca-ffd3-4199-88a4-5f3857e58df5
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Aft.com+scottish+mortgage
http://archive.today/2023.03.17-043653/https://www.ft.com/content/c5da6dca-ffd3-4199-88a4-5f3857e58df5

page 22: Lex: Scottish Mortgage plan overboard
https://www.ft.com/content/bd00299d-978d-412c-97c8-c902cfbe707e
https://t.co/P9nxgmx9sI (via ft's twitter)
http://archive.today/2023.03.17-162808/https://www.ft.com/content/bd00299d-978d-412c-97c8-c902cfbe707e

page 6 Money Section: Comments by 'Wolvercote' appended to one of John Lee's articles ("My Isa has suffered - but I'm still a firm believer")
https://www.ft.com/content/c3f5dc49-9019-437b-88ff-28d0e2a60efa
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Aft.com+isa+suffered
http://archive.today/2023.03.07-063434/https://www.ft.com/content/c3f5dc49-9019-437b-88ff-28d0e2a60efa (doesn't seem to include comments)
Here's a screenshot:

('Wolvercote' doesn't post in TLF under another name by any chance .....?!)

And finally, not in the FT, but for my own curiousity, a long term graph of the SMT shareprice

As regards the boardroom spat, I have already commented on the Lex column remarks but never mind.

Dod

[Dod101]

I didn't mention Mark Slater but someone told me that Tom Slater was Jim Slater's son. If not, I have been misinformed though I thought I had read it somewhere as well.

Google says Jim Slater had one son, Mark, though Wikipedia says he had 4 children. I had only looked at the Google search when I made the previous post

Updated: Chatgpt says they are not related! It says Mark Slater has a brother called Jim Slater as well as being the son of Jim Slater
All these Slaters are investment managers!

So I take it that we have no definitive info as to whether Tom Slater, manager of SMT is related to the late Jim Slater or not?

Dod

[absolutezero]

Google says Jim Slater had one son, Mark, though Wikipedia says he had 4 children. I had only looked at the Google search when I made the previous post

Updated: Chatgpt says they are not related! It says Mark Slater has a brother called Jim Slater as well as being the son of Jim Slater
All these Slaters are investment managers!

So I take it that we have no definitive info as to whether Tom Slater, manager of SMT is related to the late Jim Slater or not?

Dod

Tom is not related to Jim.
Back to the discussion in point now.

[UncleEbenezer]

Re: Scottish Mortgage heading for where ...... absolutezero

Um ... I hope not.

[james51]

The FT reports today that the Chair, Fiona McBain, is to step down.