Scottish Mortgage’s Millennial Appeal Propels Shares to 1,500p as SpaceX Stake Swells to £3 Billion

55% of Britons aged 25-34 now invest in trusts, driving Scottish Mortgage to its highest close since 2021. SpaceX stake swells to 19.3%, while AI holdings and IPO hopes lift shares to a 6.52% premium.

A powerful demographic shift is reshaping the investor base behind Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust. According to an Invesco study published on Monday, 55% of Britons aged 25 to 34 now plan to invest in investment trusts, compared with just 9% of those over 65. Even among the 18-to-24 cohort, the figure stands at 38%. That enthusiasm is translating directly into demand for the Baillie Gifford-managed trust, which offers retail investors rare exposure to unlisted giants such as ByteDance, Anthropic and SpaceX.

The trust’s London close of 1,500 pence on Monday marked its highest level since the end of 2021. In Germany, the stock finished at €19.02, up 6.08% on the day and setting a fresh year-to-date high. The shares now trade at a premium of 6.52% to net asset value — a clear signal that buyers are paying not only for the underlying portfolio but also for the anticipated upside from future IPOs, chief among them SpaceX.

SpaceX has become the trust’s single largest bet, ballooning from 0.6% of the portfolio in 2019 to 19.3% today. What began as a £151 million investment is now worth nearly £3 billion — a gain of roughly 1,900%. The rocket company is targeting a June 2026 stock market debut with a potential valuation of up to $1.25 trillion. Yet the road to that valuation is not without turbulence. A recent registration statement revealed a net loss of $4.27 billion in the first quarter, with revenues in a similar range. Still, successful test flights, such as the twelfth launch of Starship V3, reinforce the narrative.

Manager Tom Slater describes the current market environment as an “era of expectation,” where investors are scouting for companies that will define entirely new industries rather than simply extrapolate old growth rates. That mindset is evident in the trust’s allocation to artificial intelligence, which spans three layers: enablers, infrastructure and applications. Chipmaker Nvidia sits at the core, having posted quarterly revenue of $81.6 billion, driven by a near-doubling of its data-centre business. Over the weekend, Nvidia expanded its partnership with Marvell Technology. Another AI holding, Anthropic, is said to have annualised revenues of $45 billion, according to figures that circulated in May.

The combination of AI and spaceflight has proved magnetic for younger investors, but it also brings concentration risk. The trust’s heavy tilt toward private companies means a meaningful portion of performance hinges on a handful of bets. Moreover, the FCA reported 1,267 illegal financial promotions in April alone, and 36% of trust holders now follow financial influencers, raising concerns about herd behaviour.

By comparison, 3i Group, another large London-listed trust, has institutional ownership of 63.6%, versus just 8.6% for Scottish Mortgage. That disparity underscores how retail-driven the rally has been. The Bank of England’s base rate of 3.75% has kept the macro environment stable for growth stocks, but the real catalyst remains the SpaceX IPO. If the company hits its $1.25 trillion target, Scottish Mortgage’s largest unlisted bet will finally translate into public market gains — validating the “era of expectation” that has already lifted its shares to 1,500p.