Worldwide Healthcare Trust - Strong performance since inception

Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) will be celebrating its 30th birthday in 2025 and, despite more recent underperformance, the trust has served its shareholders well over the long term. Its NAV and share price total returns of +4,770% and +4,181% respectively, since launch in April 1995 to the end of September 2024, are considerably ahead of the benchmark’s +2,438% total return. Co-managers, Sven Borho and Trevor Polischuk, at global healthcare specialist OrbiMed, remain bullish on the industry outlook. They believe that the sector is poised for a catch-up in relative performance, having uncharacteristically lagged the performance of the broad US market in recent quarters. The managers point to favourable healthcare industry fundamentals, which include a high level of innovation, a supportive regulatory environment and robust levels of M&A activity. This is partly due to an upcoming patent cliff and senior executives at major pharma companies have been vocal about the need to replenish their product lines as their key drugs go off patent.