Overview
Alliance Witan (formerly Alliance Trust, then Alliance Witan after its 9 October 2024 merger with Witan Investment Trust), is one of the oldest and largest investment companies.
It has a global portfolio and adopts a ‘manager of managers’ approach – an investment adviser, Willis Towers Watson, has selected a number of investment managers each of which invests in a high conviction (i.e. concentrated) collection of stocks – their best ideas. Between them, they cover a range of value, growth or quality stock picking styles. The idea is that the approach reduces the risk that is often taken by investors selecting a single, star manager or one particular style that can move in and out of favour. One of the managers also runs an additional, more diversified, portfolio of companies located in emerging markets.
You can access the trust’s website here
Fundamentals
Price
Research History
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19 Sep 2024
Alliance Trust - A new powerhouse
A new powerhouse In recent years, we have highlighted the success of Alliance Trust’s (ATST) investment approach, which has, on average, outperformed the MSCI ACWI index over any given 12-month period (sampled weekly – see page 12). This success was an important factor in ATST’s selection as a merger partner for Witan (WTAN), another global […]
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19 Sep 2024
Alliance Trust - A new powerhouse
A new powerhouse In recent years, we have highlighted the success of Alliance Trust’s (ATST) investment approach, which has, on average, outperformed the MSCI All Countries World Index (MSCI ACWI) over any given 12-month period (sampled weekly – see page 12). This success was an important factor in ATST’s selection as a merger partner for […]
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19 Sep 2024
Alliance Trust - A new powerhouse
A new powerhouse In recent years, we have discussed the improvement in the performance of Alliance Trust since the appointment of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) as manager. With WTW’s investment approach, ATST has, on average, outperformed the MSCI ACWI index over any given 12-month period (sampled weekly – see page 12). This success has been […]
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23 Aug 2024
Interview with Craig Baker from Alliance Trust
In this week’s show, James Carthew spoke to Craig Baker from Alliance Trust. If you were looking for the first part of QuotedData’s show, focused on the roundup of the week’s news click here. If there is a guest speaker you’d particularly like to hear from, please email Aiman. Additionally, if you would prefer to […]
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16 Nov 2023
Alliance Trust - Coming into its own
Alliance Trust Investment companies | Annual overview | 15 November 2023 Coming into its own Alliance Trust’s (ATST) diversified blend of active managers could be the key factor behind the trust’s performance being ahead of global equities over multiple time frames. ATST appears to have been able to capture benefits of the sentiment shifts in global […]
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16 Nov 2023
Alliance Trust - Coming into its own
Alliance Trust Investment companies | Annual overview | 15 November 2023 Coming into its own Thanks in no small part to Alliance Trust’s (ATST) diversified blend of actively managed strategies, the trust’s performance has been ahead of global equity markets over multiple time frames. ATST has been able to capture benefits of the major sentiment shifts […]
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16 Nov 2023
Alliance Trust - Coming into its own
Alliance Trust Investment companies | Annual Overview | 15 November 2023 Coming into its own Thanks in no small part to Alliance Trust’s (ATST) diversified blend of active managers, the trust’s performance has been ahead of global equities over multiple time frames. ATST has been able to capture benefits of the major sentiment shifts in global […]
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28 Apr 2023
Interview with Craig Baker from Alliance Trust
In this week’s show, James Carthew spoke to Craig Baker from Alliance Trust. If you were looking for the first part of QuotedData’s show, focused on the roundup of the week’s news, click here. If there is a guest speaker you’d particularly like to hear from, please email us on [email protected]. Additionally, if you would prefer […]
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05 Jan 2023
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Roundup – January 2023
December 2022 Monthly roundup | Investment companies Winners and losers in December 2022 The Financials sector only has two constituents, one of these – Trian Investors 1 – has seen its discount narrow since it promised to return cash to investors by next June, and it has also benefited from underlying NAV appreciation. Last month’s […]
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17 Nov 2022
Alliance Trust - Stability in troubled waters
Alliance Trust Investment companies | Update | 17 November 2022 Stability in troubled waters More than five years after it refocused its global equity portfolio, Alliance Trust (ATST) has proven the merits of blending different expertise across different investment styles. Its manager, Willis Towers Watson, has been able to demonstrate the benefits of its balanced, […]
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17 Nov 2022
Alliance Trust - Stability in troubled waters
Alliance Trust Investment companies | Update | 17 November 2022 Stability in troubled waters More than five years after it refocused its global equity portfolio, Alliance Trust (ATST) has proven the merits of blending different expertise across different investment styles. Its manager, Willis Towers Watson, has been able to demonstrate the benefits of its balanced, […]
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17 Nov 2022
Alliance Trust - Stability in troubled waters
Alliance Trust Investment companies | Update | 17 November 2022 Stability in troubled waters More than five years after it refocused its global equity portfolio, Alliance Trust (ATST) believes that it has proven the merits of blending different expertise across different investment styles. Its manager, Willis Towers Watson, feels that it has been able to […]
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13 Oct 2022
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Quarterly Review – Third Quarter 2022
Third quarter of 2022 Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford and Aberdeen Standard Investments Piling on the misery In the face of rising inflation, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, central bankers have condemned for their relative inaction. However, in the third quarter of 2022, they stepped up a gear. Last month’s economic and political roundup […]
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16 Sep 2022
Interview with Stuart Gray from Alliance Trust
In this week’s show, James Carthew talked to Stuart Gray from Alliance Trust. If you were looking for the first part of QuotedData’s show, focused on the roundup of the week’s news, click here. If there is a guest speaker you’d particularly like to hear from, please email us. Additionally, if you would prefer to watch and […]
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10 Sep 2021
Interview with Craig Baker of Alliance Trust
In this week’s show, James Carthew talked to Craig Baker of Alliance Trust If you were looking for the first part of QuotedData’s show, focused on the roundup of the week’s news, this is now in the news section – here. If there is a guest speaker you’d particularly like to hear from, please email […]
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04 Aug 2021
Alliance Trust - The fruits of diversification
The fruits of diversification More than four years after it refocused its global equity portfolio, Alliance Trust (ATST) has proven the merits of blending different expertise across different investment styles. Since the overhaul in April 2017, it has matched its peers and beaten its benchmark. In particular, over the past 14 months, which have been […]
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04 Aug 2021
Alliance Trust - The fruits of diversification
The fruits of diversification More than four years after it refocused its global equity portfolio, Alliance Trust (ATST) has proven the merits of blending different expertise across different investment styles. Since the overhaul in April 2017, it has matched its peers and beaten its benchmark. In particular, over the past 14 months, which have been […]
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04 Aug 2021
Alliance Trust - The fruits of diversification
The fruits of diversification More than four years after it refocused its global equity portfolio, Alliance Trust (ATST) appears to have demonstrated the merits of blending different expertise across different investment styles. Since the overhaul in April 2017, it has matched its peers and beaten its benchmark. In particular, over the past 14 months, which […]
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08 Dec 2020
QuotedData’s ESG Conference – week 3 Governance day playback
On the 8th December QuotedData hosted the last of three ESG focused webinars. This Governance webinar included presentations and Q&As from 4 investment companies’ managers focused on targeting underlying companies actively improving corporate governance practices and addressing inequality. We would like to thank all our speakers and our attendees for joining us. Click below to watch the presentations. David […]
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25 Nov 2020
Alliance Trust - A trust for all seasons
A trust for all seasons Alliance Trust (ATST) underwent a major overhaul three and a half years ago, refocusing on its global equity portfolio. Non-core parts of the company have been sold and overheads slashed. Today, the trust’s assets are managed by nine of the world’s best stock pickers. Investing sustainably is a strong theme […]
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25 Nov 2020
Alliance Trust - A trust for all seasons
A trust for all seasons Alliance Trust (ATST) underwent a major overhaul three and a half years ago, refocusing on its global equity portfolio. Non-core parts of the company have been sold and overheads slashed. Today, the trust’s assets are managed by what the manager believes are nine of the world’s best stock pickers. Investing […]
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25 Nov 2020
Alliance Trust - A trust for all seasons
A trust for all seasons Alliance Trust (ATST) underwent a major overhaul three and a half years ago, refocusing on its global equity portfolio. Non-core parts of the company have been sold and overheads slashed. Today, the trust’s assets are managed by nine of the world’s best stock pickers. Investing sustainably is a strong theme […]
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10 Aug 2020
QuotedData’s Economic Roundup – August 2020
Economic & Political Roundup Kindly sponsored by Allianz A collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell […]
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24 Jul 2020
Interview with Craig Baker on Alliance Trust
Interview with Craig Baker on Alliance Trust In this week’s show, James Carthew talked to Craig Baker, chief investment officer of Willis Towers Watson and chairman of the investment committee of Alliance Trust. Craig explains how the global investment trust is managed. Watch it again here We’ll be back next week (31 July at 11am), […]
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14 Jul 2020
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Quarterly Review – Second Quarter 2020
Investment Companies Quarterly Roundup Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford and Aberdeen Standard Investments Table of contents In this issue Performance data Positive movers Negative movers Discounts and premiums Getting more expensive Getting cheaper Money in and out Money in Money out Major news stories Upcoming Events New research Guide The legal bit When the going gets […]
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07 Aug 2019
QuotedData’s economic roundup – August 2019
Economic & Political Roundup A collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell any of the […]
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08 May 2019
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – May 2019
Investment Companies Roundup New research Over April, we published notes on Henderson Diversified Income, Ecofin Global Utilities and Infrastructure, Jupiter Emerging and Frontier Income, Seneca Global Income & Growth and Polar Capital Global Financials Trust. You can read all these notes by clicking on the links above or by visiting www.quoteddata.com. In this issue Performance data – it was […]
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18 Jan 2019
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – January 2019
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – January 2019 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of December 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Extract from money raised and returned in December The only new issue […]
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13 Nov 2018
QuotedData's investment companies roundup - November 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – November 2018 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of October 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Winners and losers in October In what was generally a miserable month for equity markets, Brazil shone […]
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16 Oct 2018
Quarterly Investment Companies Roundup – Third Quarter 2018
Quarterly Investment Companies Roundup – Third Quarter 2018 Global equities delivered positive returns over the third quarter of 2018. This was principally because of strength in the US market. Political uncertainty and concerns about global trade held back other regions. Generally, government bond yields rose over the quarter. The UK equity market fell as the Bank of […]
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14 Sep 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – September 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – September 2018 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of August 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Money raised and returned in August GRIT Real Estate Income floated on the UK Stock Exchange in […]
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15 Aug 2018
QuotedData’s Economic round up – August 2018
QuotedData’s Economic round up – August 2018 is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell […]
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11 Jun 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – June 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – June 2018 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of May 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. The premium of biotech company, Syncona, rose on positive news on two of its […]
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11 May 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – May 2018
QuotedData investment companies roundup – May 2018 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of April 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. India Capital Growth has experience a rebound in performance in the past month, as […]
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25 Apr 2018
Quarterly investment companies roundup – First quarter 2018
Quarterly investment companies roundup – First quarter 2018 Quarterly investment companies roundup – First quarter 2018 – Global equity markets declined in the first quarter of 2018. Concerns about US interest rate rises were the feature of the first half of the quarter. However, worries about global trade took over in the second part, particularly […]
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13 Mar 2018
QuotedData's investment companies roundup - March 2018
QuotedData investment companies roundup – March 2018 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of February 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Equity markets continued to run up in early February, supported by strong corporate earnings […]
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18 Jan 2018
QuotedData - 2017 review of the year
QuotedData – 2017 review of the year – Many commentators, including us, were wary going into 2017. In the event, economic growth and markets surprised on the upside: US markets hit new highs despite three interest rate rises. Perceived low/no growth areas such as Europe and Japan burst into life. Asia’s technology stocks surged. India’s […]
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11 Dec 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – December 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – December 2017 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of November 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. December Investment Companies Roundup Money raised and returned in November There were no […]
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19 Oct 2017
Quarterly investment companies roundup – Third quarter 2017
Quarterly investment companies roundup – Third quarter 2017 – Markets moved up a little over the course of the three months ended 30 September 2017. Regionally, emerging markets did well. The pound strengthened a bit relative to the US dollar but was flat against the euro. The oil price rose by more than 20%. In […]
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14 Sep 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – September 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – September 2017 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of August 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. September Investment Companies Roundup Winners and losers in August Ashmore Global’s […]
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03 Aug 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – August 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – August 2017 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of July 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. August Investment Companies Roundup Monthly NAV/Price moves: A couple of themes stand out […]
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03 Aug 2017
QuotedData’s economic round up – August 2017
QuotedData’s economic round up – August 2017 – is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell […]
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12 Jul 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – July 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – July 2017 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of June 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. July Investment Companies Roundup Money raised in July Newly launched in June were […]
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14 Jun 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – June 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – June 2017 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of May 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. June Investment Companies Roundup Japan was one of the best places to be […]
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16 May 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – May 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup: Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of April 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Money in: The only new launch in April was EJF Investments, a £69m fund trying to take advantage of […]
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10 Apr 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – April 2017
Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of February 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. April Investment Companies Roundup
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15 Mar 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – March 2017
Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of February 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. March Investment Companies Roundup
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14 Feb 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup – February 2017
Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of January 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. February Investment Companies Roundup
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31 Jan 2017
QuotedData - 2016 review of the year
Our review of 2016 includes performance data, significant moves in discounts and premiums, money raised and money handed back, major news stories and links to the research we have published including our guide to investment companies. 2016 Annual roundup
News
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01 Mar 2019
Alliance Trust's equity portfolio underperformed in 2018
Alliance Trust’s equity portfolio underperformed in 2018 – Alliance Trust has published results for 2018. Highlights were: Total shareholder return for 2018 was -6.1% (2017: 19.2%) and its share price at 31 December 2018 was 688.0p, down 7.8% compared to 746.5p at 31 December 2017 NAV total return for 2018 was -5.4% (2017:18.5%) and its NAV […]
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22 Oct 2018
Interactive Investor buys Alliance Trust Savings
Interactive Investor buys Alliance Trust Savings – Alliance Trust has agreed the sale of its subsidiary company Alliance Trust Savings (ATS) to Interactive Investor, the UK’s second largest investment platform. Lord Smith of Kelvin, Alliance Trust’s chairman, commented: “The board is pleased to announce the sale of ATS to Interactive Investor. The two businesses are highly complementary […]
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09 Mar 2018
Alliance Trust writes off goodwill on Stocktrade deal
Alliance Trust writes off goodwill on Stocktrade deal – Alliance Trust has published its results for the year ended 31 December 2017. These show an improvement in its performance as its equity portfolio outperformed its MSCI ACWI benchmark over the year by 4.2%. This helped drive an NAV total return of 18.5% versus a return of […]
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18 Dec 2017
Investment Trust Insider on Biotech
Investment Trust Insider on Biotech – inspired by the launch of our biotech news service on QuotedData, I wrote something for Citywire that looks at some of the exciting stories that have been published just in the last couple of weeks. James Carthew: biotech boom boosts generalist trusts This week I am returning to the […]
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09 May 2017
Investment Trust Insider on Alliance Trust
Alliance Trust (ATST) has completed the buyback of Elliott’s stake in the company and removed the immediate threat to its future existence – but now the hard work starts. It will be looking to deliver measurable outperformance of its peer group and its benchmark in order to secure its long-term future. Shareholders are still heading […]
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03 Apr 2017
Alliance Trust appoints Willis Towers Watson as manager & completes sale of Alliance Trust Investments
Alliance Trust has confirmed the appointment of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) to manage the Trust’s equity portfolio1, effective from 1 April 2017. As previously announced, WTW has, on behalf of the Trust, selected eight equity managers and the transition to these managers will be completed before the Trust’s AGM. Alliance Trust has also completed the […]
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21 Feb 2017
Alliance Trust seeks to clarify Willis Towers Watson role
Alliance Trust has released a statement in an attempt to clear up any perceived conflict of interest in the appointment of Willis Towers Watson. We have reproduced this in full below: As announced in May 2016, the Board of Alliance Trust undertook a Strategic Review of the Trust to determine its future direction. The Board […]
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10 Feb 2017
Alliance Trust removes the shackles by buying out Elliott but has it done enough?
The activist investor, responsible the massive recent changes at the Victorian era trust, has built up a near twenty per cent stake, that was spoiling investor sentiment following the implementation of a new investment strategy. read more here
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27 Jan 2017
Alliance Trust to repurchase Elliott Advisors' 20% stake
Alliance Trust has announced that it has entered into an agreement with its largest shareholder, Elliott International, L.P., The Liverpool Limited Partnership and Elliott Associates L.P. (collectively Elliott), to repurchase all ordinary shares in the Company in respect of which Elliott has a disclosable interest – this being 19.75% of Alliance Trust’s issued share capital. […]
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16 Jan 2017
Alliance Trust provides update on changes to managing its equity portfolio
Following its strategic review, Alliance Trust announced, on 15 December 2016, proposals under which its equity portfolio would move from being run using a single manager to a multi-manager approach. The trust has now announced further details of the proposed equity managers and says that a general meeting to approve these changes is to be […]
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15 Dec 2016
Alliance Trust completes strategic review
Alliance Trust has made an announcement regarding the outcome of its strategic review. Rather than cut and paste it, we have attached a pdf of the announcement here: 20161215-atst-rns-outcome-of-strategic-review Alliance Trust completes strategic review : ATST
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22 Jul 2016
Alliance Trust underperformance reflects turbulent market conditions around the EU referendum
Alliance Trust has announced its interim results for the year ended 30 June 2016. During the period, the trust’s NAV per share increased by 5.4%, whilst its share price increased by 1.4%. The trust also paid dividends of 5.65p (2015: 5.065p). Share price total return, including the dividends was 2.6% whilst NAV total return was […]
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01 Jul 2016
Activist building stake in British Empire
According to an article in the Daily Telegraph (which you can access here), Elliott Advisors (the activist investor in Alliance Trust) has built up a 5% stake in British Empire worth £32m. So far neither side has commented on the story. BTEM : Activist building stake in British Empire
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07 Jun 2016
RIT Capital will not bid for Alliance Trust
No intention to make an offer for Alliance Trust plc On 31 May 2016, RIT Capital Partners announced that the possibility of combining the Company with Alliance Trust for the benefit of both sets of shareholders was at a preliminary stage of consideration. Following careful analysis and constructive discussions with representatives of Alliance Trust, RIT Capital […]
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03 Jun 2016
PA ANALYSIS: A lot at stake in ‘unsurprising’ RIT/Alliance bid
That there was a bid for Alliance Trust announced on Tuesday was a lot less surprising for many commentators than that it was the Rothschild Investment Trust contemplating the offer. See more here
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31 May 2016
RIT Capital Partners says Alliance Trust approach "very preliminary"
Alliance Trust has made an announcement in response to the press speculation over the weekend. They say, as communicated to shareholders in October of last year and more recently at the time of the publication of the annual results in March this year, a number of significant changes to Alliance Trust have been implemented in […]
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04 Mar 2016
Things looking up at Alliance Trust
Alliance Trust reports a 5.4% total return on net assets and a 10.7% return to shareholders for the year ended 31 December 2015 this compares to the MSCI ACWI benchmark return of 3.8%. The total dividend is 12.43p, up 0.4% on 2014. Alliance Trust Investments (ATI) generated net inflows of £81m, ending the year with […]
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15 Feb 2016
Katherine Garrett-Cox to leave Alliance Trust Investments in March 2016
Alliance Trust has announced that Katherine Garrett-Cox (pictured) will stand down as chief executive of its management company, Alliance Trust Investments Limited (also a subsidiary of Alliance Trust ), and will be leaving the company on 11 March 2016. The company says that this follows discussions between the Board and Katherine about the future requirement […]
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04 Feb 2016
Alliance Trust becomes "externally" managed
Alliance Trust Investments Limited has become the Investment Manager and Alternative Investment Fund Manager (“AIFM”) to Alliance Trust with effect from 3 February 2016 – so Alliance Trust has become externally managed (although Alliance Trust Investments is a subsidiary of Alliance Trust). Alliance Trust Investments has also replaced The Bank of New York Mellon, London Branch (“BNYM”) as […]
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16 Dec 2015
Alliance Trust provides update on its progress
On 1 October 2015, Alliance Trust announced a series of changes that its said were designed to enhance shareholder value. In advance of the end of the financial year on 31 December 2015, the company has provided an update on the progress that has been made on implementing these changes. Rather than copying and pasting […]
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01 Oct 2015
Major shake up at Alliance Trust
Following consultation with its shareholders, Alliance Trust has announced a raft of measures that the board believes will position the company to “deliver consistent outperformance in a cost-effective manner”. These include changes to the board structure, changes to the management arrangements, focus on cost reductions, disposal of legacy assets and a new benchmark. The board believe the new […]
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29 Sep 2015
Will new Alliance Trust directors bring change to the trust?
The appointment of two new non-executive directors at Alliance Trust should reassure shareholders but pressure remains to deliver improved performance at the trust, experts say. http://www.fundweb.co.uk/news-and-analysis/will-new-alliance-trust-directors-bring-change-to-the-trust/2023856.article
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24 Aug 2015
Busy H1 leaves Acencia's NAV little changed
Over the six months to the end of June 2015, Acencia Debt Strategies (which is now reporting its results in US dollars for the first time) saw total return on net asset value of 1.8% to US$1.73 (NAV was flat – return is down to dividends paid). Total Shareholder returns were up 0.1% per cent to a share […]
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23 Jul 2015
Unspecified change promised at Alliance Trust
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 […]
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14 May 2015
Alliance Trust buying Stocktrade
Alliance Trust is to buy Stocktrade from Brewin Dolphin in an effort to bolster its Alliance Trust Savings business. They say the deal has the potential to add more than 48,000 new customers and £4.6bn of new assets into ATS across three main channels; direct customers, intermediary customers and strategic partnerships. The purchase price is […]
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28 Apr 2015
Alliance Trust and Elliott reach a compromise, for now
Alliance Trust has announced this morning that they have reached an agreement with their largest shareholder, Elliott Advisers, whereby Elliott has agreed to withdraw its three resolutions from the Alliance Trust AGM on 29 April 2015 and has committed to support the Board and management on all other resolutions. As part of the deal, both the […]
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31 Mar 2015
Alliance vs. Elliott - closing arguments
First – Karin Forseke (Alliance Trust’s Chairman)’s message to shareholders in the circular convening the meeting: “Dear Shareholder, Who are Elliott and what do they really want? Our Company has been requisitioned by Elliott Advisors (UK) Ltd. to appoint three additional directors to the Board of Alliance Trust. Your Board believes this is just the […]
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27 Mar 2015
Cost-conscious Alliance Trust chief braces for onslaught
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a188bda4-ccbb-11e4-b5a5-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Vbb2O0ko Cost-conscious Alliance Trust chief braces for onslaught David Oakley, Judith Evans and Miles Johnson
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20 Mar 2015
Alliance versus Elliott - with updates
Alliance Trust has published its rejection of Elliott’s proposals. for the sake of completeness we have reproduced the entire statement below but the thrust of it is that Elliott’s nominees wouldn’t be independent, would have a short-term agenda, might initiate moves that could threaten the dividend and the jobs of 250 Alliance Trust employees. They […]
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16 Mar 2015
Alliance Trust targeted by Elliott
Elliott Advisors, which holds a 12% stake in Alliance Trust, has today called for three directors of its choosing to be put onto the Alliance Trust Board. They say they have concerns over corporate governance which they have raised with the company but didn’t feel they were getting a meaningful response. The three nominees are Anthony […]
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06 Mar 2015
Alliance Trust lags MSCI World by 3% but still 2nd quartile
Alliance Trust’s results for 2014 show its net asset value rising by 5.8%. the annual dividend was increased to 12.438p, 14.3% up year on year, and this helped push the fund’s total return on net assets to 8.1%. The share price return was 9%. Unfortunately this is somewhat behind the 11.2% return generated on the […]
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02 Dec 2014
The alternative plays in investment trusts
Source: http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/news-and-analysis/analysis/the-alternative-plays-in-investment-trusts/2016533.article Income-seeking investors would do well to look at the alternative plays on offer in the investment companies space, such as renewable energy and asset leasing With interest rates held so low for so long, it is not surprising investors have been looking for alternative ways to generate income. That search is only set to […]
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25 Jul 2014
Alliance Trust : ATST - interims
Alliance Trust has published interim figures for the half year ended 30 June 2014. Alliance Trust underperformed slightly during this period – generating a total return on net assets of 0.3% and a return to shareholders of 0.4% compared to a return on the AIC Global sector of 1.6% on net assets and 3.0% on […]
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19 Jun 2014
Alliance Trust : ATST
Alliance Trust (headed by Katherine Garrett-Cox pictured) has secured £100m of fixed rate financing through an unsecured private placement note. The notes have a 15 year life (31 July 2014 to 31 July 2029) and pay a coupon of 4.28%. The cash raised is to be used to retire £100m of the ATST’s existing debt (currently £380m – all […]
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07 Mar 2014
Alliance Trust : ATST - annual results
Over the year ended 31 December 2013 Alliance Trust generated a total net asset value return of 18.4%. The total return to shareholders was 22.7% as the discount narrowed. Their equity portfolio outperformed the MSCI All Country World Index and Alliance Trust Savings made a profit for the first time in eight years as assets […]
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26 Feb 2014
Alliance Trust : ATST - holding in company
Alliance Trust has disclosed that activist group Elliott Capital have a 10% interest in the company comprising a 5% holding in Alliance Trust’s shares and a 5% interest held through contracts for difference. QD comment: The question must be, what is Elliott after? Alliance Trust’s shares are currently trading on a 11.4% discount, having moved […]
