The giant of investment trusts at £2,247.3m, Alliance Trust is a generalist investment trust that invests in a wide range of asset classes throughout the world to achieve capital growth and a rising dividend. Katherine Garrett-Cox was appointed chief executive of Alliance Trust in 2008 (see '). She says: "Our record of 41 years of uninterrupted dividend growth is one reason why our shareholders hold Alliance Trust shares for generations. Indeed, many of our shareholders reinvest their dividends allowing them to increase substantially the value of their investment over the long term."
Alliance Trust is on Collins Stewart's core recommendations for 2009 for its defensive characteristics. The stockbroker points out that Alliance has made "great strides forward in recent months" and, critically, performance has improved.
In January, it announced that its new asset management business is launching two core funds in UK equity income and North American equities. It trades at a 15 per cent discount and has a TER of 0.56 per cent.
| ALLIANCE TRUST (ATST) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PRICE | 273p | NAV | 315.34 |
| SIZE OF FUND | £2.25bn | PRICE DISCOUNT TO NAV | -15.73 |
| No OF HOLDINGS: | 1 YEAR PERFORMANCE | -22.41 | |
| SET UP DATE | 17 Jul 47 | 3 YEAR PERFORMANCE | -23.41 |
| 5 YEAR PERFORMANCE | 4.96 | ||
| TOTAL EXPENSE RATIO | 0.83% | ||
| YIELD | 3.086 | ||
| MORE DETAILS | alliancetrust.co.uk | ||
| SHARPE RATIO | -0.59 | ||
| TOP TEN HOLDINGS | £m |
|---|---|
| BP | 70.4 |
| Royal | 67.1 |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 47.4 |
| Vodafone | 46.6 |
| British American Tobacco | 37.7 |
| Philip Morris | 32.2 |
| BHP | 32 |
| New York Community Bancorp | 27.8 |
| Abbott | 25.8 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 24.4 |
| SECTOR BREAKDOWN | % |
|---|---|
| Oil & Gas | 15.2 |
| Industrials | 13.1 |
| Financials | 12.5 |
| Consumer Goods | 11.1 |
| Health Care | 9.7 |
| Consumer Services | 9.1 |
| Basic Materials | 6.8 |
| Telecommunications | 6.8 |
| Utilities | 6.3 |
| Technology | 5.4 |
| Collective Investments | 4 |
Source: Fact Sheet, Morningstar & Datastream
