The value of investments held by the Wellcome Trust rose by around £1bn to £14.5bn for the financial year to September 2012.
The charity’s investment portfolio recorded a total return of 12 per cent on a portfolio value of £13.6bn at the start of the 2012 financial year. Its investment asset base was £14.5bn by the end of the year.
Wellcome Trust has returned a total of 27 per cent over three years and 145 per cent over ten years to September 2012. Since the inception of its investment portfolio in 1985, it has provided a total return averaging 14 per cent a year.
Danny Truell, chief investment officer of the Trust, said:
"Premium returns from illiquid assets, market timing in asset allocation, active currency management, partner selection and the direct acquisition of public assets at distressed prices have combined to enable the portfolio to outperform world equity markets by a total of 10 per cent over the past decade.
“Long-term themes will continue to inform our choice of investments; we expect to generate substantial free cash-flows over the next five years. In such uncertain economic times, it is an advantage to work with only very broad asset allocation constraints and with a talented investment team and a robust long-term investment philosophy; we believe that we are well-positioned for the future."
Sir William Castell, chairman of the Trust, added: "I am pleased to report the continued strong performance from our investment portfolio, which has enabled us to make charitable payments that are twice the level at the turn of the century and are 35 per cent higher than in the year before the global financial crisis."
Wellcome Trust made £643m in charitable cash payments for the year 2011/12 including, grants and programme-related investments in medical research and the funding of its Genome Campus, which investigates the roles of genes in health and disease.
The charity projects to spend £3.5bn on its charitable activities between 2012 and 2017, a 25 per cent increase over the previous five-year period.
Elsewhere, the Wellcome Trust recently launched Syncona, an investment firm which will support healthcare products. Syncona will support early- and late-stage companies with investments ranging from £1m to £20m.
Wellcome Trust is one of the largest grant-makers in the UK. It sits at number seven in the Charity 100 Index, reporting a 13 point income increase for the financial year to 30 September 2011 to £254.4bn. Its income dipped slightly to £242.4bn in 2011/12 as grant income fell by 11 per cent.
