Worldwide Healthcare Trust is a specialist investment trust that invests in the global healthcare sector, with the objective of achieving a high level of capital growth. Gearing and derivative transactions are used to enhance capital returns and mitigate risk. Performance is measured against the MSCI World Health Care index (sterling adjusted).

Worldwide Healthcare Trust’s (WWH’s) two co-managers, Sven Borho and Trevor Polischuk at specialist investor OrbiMed, remain positive on the prospects for the global healthcare industry. This view is based on favourable company fundamentals, increased clarity on US drug pricing and an upturn in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, as pharma companies are using their strong balance sheets to bolster their product pipelines. The trust’s portfolio remains skewed to emerging (smaller-cap) biotech and emerging market stocks rather than large-cap pharma companies. While this strategy has been detrimental to WWH’s relative performance in recent quarters, this active approach has been successful over the longer term.