Edinburgh Worldwide, the Baillie Gifford-managed investment trust, outperformed its benchmark index in the first half of its financial year.

In the six months to the end of April, the company's net asset value (NAV) per share rose by 10.7%, whereas over the same period the MSCI All Countries World Index increased by 8.3% in sterling terms.

The trust had total assets of £194.4m (before deduction of loans of £25.1m ) as at 30 April 2011.

During the reporting period the fund acquired five new holdings: C-Trip, a Chinese travel aggregator web site; iRobot, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off aimed at commercialising domestic robots; Salesforce.com, a cloud computer services company; Hengdeli, a Chinese watch seller, plus Autonomy, the UK data search specialist.

Observers will note the emphasis on Chinese companies combined with a bias for hi-tech start-ups.

This is backed up by the half-yearly management report, which states:

"Western observers who view the seismic shifts through rose-tinted spectacles and yearn for a reversion to yesterday's status quo, we think are in real danger of becoming modern-day King Canutes attempting to turn back the tide of change," said the trust's investment manager. "We believe the next decade and beyond will continue to see radical shifts in global GDP [gross domestic product] and technological progress which will continue to create exciting global investment opportunities."

The interim dividend is unchanged at 0.50p.

BS

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