Wellcome Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024/25

Wellcome Trust and Wellcome Trust Finance plc (a wholly owned subsidiary of The Wellcome Trust Limited as trustee of the Wellcome Trust) announce that they have each published their Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year to 30 September 2025 today. A copy of each document is available on the Wellcome Trust website. 

Wellcome has today issued the following press release in connection with the publication of its Annual Report and Financial Statements: 

Wellcome’s charitable expenditure on our mission supporting science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone rose to £1.9 billion in 2024/25, compared to £1.6 billion in 2023/24. Wellcome’s sole source of funds is our investment portfolio, which delivered a total return of 10.2 per cent in GBP (6.4 per cent after inflation) for the year to 30 September 2025. The investment portfolio value increased to £39.9 billion¹ and total funds (the value of the investment portfolio less all liabilities) rose to £35.7 billion, compared to £33.9bn in 2023/24. 

We remain confident Wellcome will be able to meet our ambition to spend £16 billion on our charitable activities over the ten years to 2032, given our long-term investment performance. This funding will support discovery research into life, health, and wellbeing. It will also enable us to continue our work on the three key worldwide health challenges of mental health, infectious disease and climate and health. Spending since 2022 now totals £5.2 billion, this compares to around £10 billion over the ten years to 2022.  

Returns were underpinned by strong public equity markets, which overcame significant intra-year volatility. Currency effects were minimal for the year, with sterling virtually unchanged against the US dollar from September 2024 to September 2025. The investment portfolio has returned 203 per cent cumulative (11.7 per cent annualised) in the decade since September 2015, recording positive returns in each of these years. Returns have been 588 per cent cumulative (10.1 per cent annualised) over 20 years. Since the inception of the investment portfolio in 1985, it has provided a total return of 13.2 per cent per annum. 

The endowment has been resilient in a mixed economic and market backdrop, and continues to maintain a strong liquidity position and AAA/Aaa (stable) credit rating. Leverage was 6.7 per cent¹ on 30^th September 2025. We issued no new bonds during the year and have no impending bond expiries until 2027. 

We saw varied returns across the asset classes in which we invest (public equity, private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, property, bonds and cash). Public equities, private equity, hedge funds and bonds and cash delivered positive returns. Property delivered a slightly negative return in aggregate against a difficult market backdrop. We extended several currency hedges that matured over the year, realising cash gains in the process. At the end of the financial year, sterling exposure stood at 18.2 per cent. Cash levels remain higher than our longer-term history in the absence of sizeable, compelling new investment opportunities and in preparation for future charitable spending. On 30 September 2025, our cash level was 8.9 per cent of gross investment portfolio assets. 

Our plan to achieve a net zero portfolio by 2050 at the latest was published in July 2021. Our annual report includes the fourth update on our net zero tracking data. This is, and will continue to be, an integral factor in our investment decision-making and engagement. 

Julia Gillard, Chair of the Wellcome Trust, said:  

“This year, I have seen first-hand the work Wellcome’s teams and partners are leading in pursuit of our mission to build a healthier future for everyone, all while navigating a rapidly changing world. We saw promising trials in Madagascar of a new oral antibiotic for plague which discovered that it was as effective as an injection, led innovative work on digital interventions for mental health in the UK, and have invested millions to advance climate and health science in areas such as extreme heat, super pollutants and infectious disease to support global action and policies on climate change. My thanks go to all of Wellcome’s staff and our partners around the world for their diligent work. " 

"I thank the Investment Team for steering the endowment through a highly uncertain environment. Our investment portfolio allows us to be truly independent and operate at an increasingly large scale, funding ambitious projects at a global level. Our long-term horizon is a powerful advantage, both in our mission-related activities and as an investor. The investment portfolio has performed very strongly over the last decade, and while we recognise the challenge of current elevated market valuations for prospective returns, the quality of our assets and strength of our team underpin the Board's confidence in our charitable mission spend ambition.” 

Lisha Patel, co-Chief Investment Officer at Wellcome, said: 

“It was reassuring to see the investment portfolio value reach a new high, despite significant market volatility over the course of the year. We remain focused on the long term and laying the foundations for Wellcome’s investment portfolio for the decades ahead, even if the near-term outlook appears increasingly challenged, and are confident in our team’s sound stewardship of Wellcome’s assets.” 

Fabian Thehos, co-Chief Investment Officer, added:  

“The investment portfolio has performed well in a turbulent environment, with positive contributions from many different parts. We are grateful for our high-quality roster of investment partners, many of whom have been active relationships for decades. Our flexible, unconstrained investment mandate and our strong governance structure that allows efficient decision making mean we can pursue opportunities that many others cannot access. We maintain a strong liquidity position that allows us to take advantage of any future market dislocations that may arise.”