Who we are

We have stood the test of time

The Scottish Investment Trust is an independently managed investment trust company which was formed in 1887 to provide investors with an efficient way to invest in companies around the world.

Read more about our history

We are high conviction, global contrarian investors

We take a contrarian approach to global stock markets, which we view as irrational and ultimately inefficient.

As high-conviction investors, we refuse to follow the herd. Instead, we focus on stocks that are out of favour with mainstream investors, as we believe that these offer the greatest potential for long-term gains. This is because stocks that are popular tend to be overvalued – while out-of-favour stocks are often too cheap. We aim to exploit this inefficiency for our shareholders.

We also believe that the investment environment is inherently cyclical. There are cycles in industry fundamentals, corporate behaviour, analyst views and investor sentiment. These cycles are closely linked: when an industry’s fundamentals have been strong for some time, management teams, analysts and investors tend to be overly bullish on its future. This leads to irrational investment decisions.

Our opportunities arise at the opposite point in the cycle – when a downturn leads to excessive pessimism about a company’s prospects. This allows us to buy stocks at precisely the point when the profit opportunity is greatest.

Read more about our investment philosophy

We are patient

When we see that positive change is afoot we have the conviction to back our ideas. But we know it can take time for the changes we see to be recognised by investment markets. That’s why we take a long-term view.

Our high conviction contrarian approach means that when the market reassesses the out-of-favour investments we prefer, our best ideas really count.

We are different

Our investment approach is truly differentiated in a world awash with index trackers. We don’t want to own the overpriced areas of the market so the investment portfolio is constructed without the constraints of a benchmark. This means we expect our performance to be differentiated too.

We are considered

Our team regularly publish their thoughts on important market developments and the over and under-loved areas of the market. You can read articles from our investment team in our News & views section. You can also subscribe here to receive our latest thoughts by email.

Meet our investment managers