News
ONLINE MANAGEMENT SERVICE
Baillie Gifford has launched an Online Management Service, a secure way for you to apply for, open and administer your Baillie Gifford Investment Trust Share Plan or Investment Trust ISA online. The service allows you to view the details of your plan online, get current valuations, make lump sum investments and switch between investments trusts (except where there is more than one holder). You can also set up a direct debit to make regular investments and update some of your personal details. Register online at www.bailliegifford.com/oms
Please note the online account management facility is not currently available for Children's Savings Plan accounts due to the legal requirement for all trustees to sign instructions.
TIME FOR CHANGE
In February 2009, it is anticipated that Mike Gush will become manager of Pacific Horizon Investment Trust PLC. Mike, 27, joined Baillie Gifford in 2003 and went on to join the Emerging Markets Team in 2005, focusing on Asian markets. He has been co-managing the Trust since July this year with Gerald Smith. Gerald has been invited to join the Trust's board as a non-executive director in February. He has been managing Pacific Horizon since 1995 and The Monks Investment Trust since 2006. He will become deputy chief investment officer in 2009.
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HIGH PRAISE
Baillie Gifford has won the Premier Group Award at the Money Observer Investment Trust Awards 2008. In addition, the Baillie Gifford Japan Trust PLC won the title for Best Japanese Trust and Pacific Horizon Investment Trust PLC won the Best Asia Pacific Trust award. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC was highly commended in the Best Global Trust category.
Investment trust development director, Robert O'Riordan, says: "Baillie Gifford aims to pursue long-term capital growth through committed and active investment management. These awards bear testimony to our investment approach."
Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
GUIDING THE WAY
Baillie Gifford recently published a guide on how investment trusts can help in planning for retirement.
The guide offers a good introduction to both pension planning and investing in equities, and illustrates how investment trusts can add flexibility and variety to a portfolio. There is handy information on how to generate income during retirement as well as a useful glossary. If you would like a free copy, please call the Client Relations Team on 0800 027 0130 or visit www.planningyourpension.com
ISA REMINDER
It is now possible to invest up to £7,200 in a stocks and shares individual savings account (ISA) in each financial year, but don't leave it too late! Readers have until 10pm on 29 March 2009 to send applications and cheques by post to Baillie Gifford, or until 10pm on 27 March 2009 to apply online at www.bailliegifford.com/oms through Baillie Gifford's Online Management Service. For more information on the Baillie Gifford Investment Trust ISA, simply call our Client Relations Team on 0800 027 0130 or visit www.bailliegifford.com
READING MATERIAL
RECENT RELEASES DELVING INTO THE WORLD OF FINANCE
Fooling Some of the People All of the Time
by David Einhorn (John Wiley & Sons, £15.99)
This book gives a remarkable insight into the sometimes murky world of hedge funds and their activities. Einhorn, a US hedge fund manager, recounts his long and bitter battle with Allied Capital, whose shares he sold 'short', expecting them to fall. He expresses his view that Allied's accounting and management practices were questionable and explains why the shares appeared overvalued. The SEC eventually investigated and supported many of Einhorn's arguments. Wall Street analysts, often taking the company's explanations at face value, come out of the episode poorly. It is unclear how much money Einhorn made from shorting Allied, but the fall in the share price after publication suggests that he may have the last laugh.
Review by James Mowat
James is a director of Baillie Gifford's UK Institutional Clients Department
Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade
by Bill Emmott ( Allen Lane, £20 )
Rivals provides an informed historical perspective of the political, economic and bureaucratic development of Asia's three main powers. At times requiring fierce concentration (for this reader anyway) the book discusses prospects for the development of and interaction between those countries, and the need for balance-of-power politics. Of interest to many will be the questioning of the typical Westerner's perspective that Asia is an entity with common goals and values, when in reality it is a web of competing interests and potential flashpoints. Not exactly a ripping yarn, but for anyone trying to predict (or just understand) the unfolding of global economics and politics, this is undoubtedly a valuable insight.
Review by Stuart Dunbar
Stuart is a director of Financial Institutions at Baillie Gifford.
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