It is an important point.
The other issue Baillie Gifford seems to be having is the hangover of those hazy boom days.
As Scottish Mortgage’s star rose during the pandemic, a number of retail investors decided they wanted a piece.
But did they realise the place a growth fund or trust should take in a balanced portfolio?
I asked an investment manager at Scottish Mortgage what he thought about this recently.
He told me it is an interesting problem, and is hard for fund managers to have a full picture of who is investing in their funds, and why.
All Baillie Gifford can do is stick to its guns and continue to communicate its strategy.
Perhaps, given the rising tide of animosity towards growth managers recently, they should be commended for not losing their heads.
Indeed, Nick Train has been uncharacteristically open about the impact his portfolios’ poor performance has had on him.
Earlier this year he said he finds it hard not to respond “emotionally” to short-term price moves, and since then he has apologised to shareholders for the poor performance of a trust he manages.
He even made a joke about taking his frustrations out on the family cat.
It can’t be easy to sit in front of a room full of angry investors, even more so when what you’re doing is your job, which has been communicated to investors time and time again.
Let’s hope they were listening.
sally.hickey@ft.com
