Worldwide Healthcare Trust PLC on Wednesday reported that its total return for 2025 was below its benchmark, amid a ‘period of turbulence’ for medical sectors.
The London-based investor in global healthcare businesses posted a negative 10.3% total return on net asset value for the year that ended March 31, compared with a 12.0% positive return the year prior. Its benchmark, the MSCI world health care index, posted a negative return of 3.2% in the same recent period and a positive return of 10.9% the year before.
Worldwide Healthcare’s NAV per share at March 31 was 339.50 pence, down 11% from 381.10p a year before. Total return reflects both this annual change and the company’s dividend payments.
It reduced its total dividend per share by 14% to 2.40p for financial 2025 from 2.80p for financial 2024.
Shares were flat at 305.00p each on Wednesday morning in London.
Worlwide Healthcare withdrew investments from Merck & Co Inc, Evolent Health Inc, Novo Nordisk AS and Biogen Inc in 2025, describing the investees as ‘major detractors to performance’. The company also cited Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc as dragging on performance, though Worldwide Healthcare has retained its stake in the company. Apellis is developing a treatment for progressive blindness which Global Healthcare called a potential ‘blockbuster drug’, despite notable side effects reported in trials.
On a positive note, Worldwide Healthcare hailed ‘top contributor’ Boston Scientific Corp and robotic surgery company Intuitive Surgical Inc. More broadly, Global Healthcare praised the medical technology subsector’s performance, which it said was largely spared the impact of US regulation changes and tariffs.
The investment firm said it refrained from new private equity investments over the past year, whilst navigating ‘the challenging public offering market for small and mid-cap healthcare firms’. Worldwide Healthcare predicted ‘further improvement of the capital market funding environment’ in the year ahead, allowing its unquoted stocks to achieve listings.
Chair Doug McCutcheon insisted ‘that the fundamentals of the healthcare sector remain strong’ despite a challenging geopolitical outlook.
‘Advancements in areas such as genetic engineering, personalised medicine and synthetic biology are also generating a strong future pipeline of innovative new therapies and treatments,’ McCutcheon added.
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