The council’s investments fell in value by £17 million in the final quarter of last year – mainly due to £25m of withdrawals from the funds.
A report produced by finance manager Paul Fraser for Thursday’s policy and resources committee meeting shows the total value of the SIC’s investments had fallen to £394m by the end of December.
Although the fund managers achieved a return of £8m during the final three months of the year, this was offset by the £25m which was withdrawn and returned to the council during the same period.
The withdrawals were made to support the council’s “cash flow needs”, which covers both revenue and capital expenditure.
The council has three investment fund managers – BlackRock, Bailie Gifford and Partners.
Over the final quarter of the year, BlackRock and Partners achieved above their benchmark aim, while Baillie Gifford underperformed.
The combined investment return over the three month period was 1.9 per cent which was 1.5 per cent below the combined benchmark return.
The report states that during that period the main global equity markets continued their “positive momentum”, which had driven markets higher throughout 2025.
The UK market was the best performing market over the quarter, returning 6.4 per cent, followed by Europe at 6.07 per cent.
“In the UK, inflation continued to fall allowing the Bank of England to further reduce interest rates, which supported equity market sentiment,” the report states.
“During the quarter, the US market struggled due to tariffs creating trade tensions, along with the longest US government shutdown on record.”
Since December, the report states that equity markets were “relatively calm”.
The most up to date investment value is £395 million (unaudited) at the end of January 2026.