Worldwide Healthcare Trust outperforms benchmark; praises AstraZeneca

Worldwide Healthcare Trust PLC on Friday said pharma company AstraZeneca PLC was its top contributor to its portfolio performance while surgical equipment firm Stryker Corp was the top detractor.

The London-based investor in healthcare companies said net asset value per share was 371.0 pence at March 31, up 9.3% from 339.5p a year prior.

NAV total return was 10.0% in the financial year ended March 31, easily beating its benchmark’s total return of just 1.8%. The firm’s benchmark is the MSCI World Health Care index on a net total return sterling adjusted basis.

Worldwide Healthcare said that merger & acquisition activity ‘was a meaningful contributor to performance’. Further, it noted that ‘US healthcare policy uncertainty lifted late in 2025’, with biotechnology and pharmaceutical sub-sectors having begun to outperform.

The company said Cambridge, England-based AstraZeneca was its top contributor in financial 2026, and the only Europe-based company in the top 5, will all other firms based in the US. The second top contributor was GC Oncology, followed by Exact Sciences, Avidity Biosciences, and Apellis Pharmaceutical.

Regarding AstraZeneca, Worldwide Healthcare said: ‘Over the reported period, the company solidified its status as the premier global, diversified, pharmaceutical player with leading franchises in oncology, respiratory, rare disease, and cardiovascular disease. The breadth of AstraZeneca’s innovation remains impressive; with a plethora of announced phase 3 clinical trials and a portfolio of 16 distinct blockbuster medicines.’

The top detractor was Stryker, with Worldwide Healthcare noting: ‘The stock was pressured by a macro rotation out of MedTech stocks – in part due to rotation into therapeutics and in part due to the ’Boston Scientific Effect’ – in which high-multiple medical device manufacturers sold off, highlighting the vulnerability of the sector to sudden shifts in investor sentiment regarding hospital capital expenditures. Second, the stock was also pressured by investor scepticism around volume growth, despite a fourth quarter increase in net sales of +11.4%.’

Stryker was followed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. Number three detractor was Tokyo-based Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd, followed by UnitedHealth Group Inc and Boston Scientific Corp. Apart from Daiichi, the top detractors were US-based companies.

Looking ahead, Worldwide Healthcare Chair Doug McCutcheon said: ‘The near-term outlook for global equity markets remains, as always, uncertain. Current issues contributing to market volatility and risk appetite include the impact of wars and supply constraints on inflation and consumer spending, the potentially positive and negative impacts of artificial intelligence and, in this context, the future direction and level of interest rates.

Within this environment, both our portfolio manager and the board remain positive on the outlook for global equities over the long-run and, in particular, for the global healthcare sector. The US regulatory environment appears increasingly supportive of innovation. At the same time, large cap pharmaceutical companies continue to face significant patent expiry pressures, thus they are investing heavily in their innovative pipelines and there is a strong incentive for continued M&A activity, particularly in the biotechnology sector, where valuations remain attractive relative to the high quality of innovation being delivered.’

As previously announced, Doug McCutcheon will retire as chair after the company’s annual general meeting on July 14, with William Hemmings to succeed him.

Worldwide Healthcare shares were 0.3% higher at 346.88 pence each on Friday morning in London.

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