Over the first half of 2015, Alliance Trust delivered a return on net assets of 1.4% and a return to shareholders of 2.7%. The NAV return would make them 29th of 36 funds in their peer group and compares to a return on the MSCI AC World Index of 2.1%. Their equity portfolio underperformed that index, returning 1.6%.
The dividend for 2015, before any special dividend, is expected to be 10.13p, an increase of 3% on the prior year. They are paying interim dividends of 2.5325p.
The Chair, Karin Forseke said “”The first half of 2015 was a particularly challenging period for Alliance Trust. In the run up to our AGM a significant proportion of our shareholder base indicated that they sought change. The Board has listened to these concerns and is actively engaged in addressing them. The Board anticipates announcing, in the Autumn, the changes that it intends to make.”
They have been making the equity portfolio more concentrated, reducing the number of holdings to 68 (from 88 at the end of June 2014).
As far as the main subsidiaries go, both the asset management business and the savings platform lost money but less than the equivalent period a year ago. They saw net inflows of £59m to the asset management business and the assets under administration on the savings platform rose by £0.8bn. The acquisition of Stocktrade (which incurred fees of around £900,000) will boost assets under administration to c£11bn.
ATST : Unspecified change promised at Alliance Trust