Interim Management Statement

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

For Quarter Ending 31 October 2008

Business Review

As indicated at the time of announcement of our interim results for the six
months ended 31 July 2008, we have undertaken a review of all aspects of the
Trust's activities to ensure that our focus is firmly on continuing to improve
our investment performance in order to deliver enhanced shareholder value. The
review took place against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating economic and
market conditions across the globe.

The principal conclusions arising from the review were:

  * Key strategic priority to focus on quoted equities as our core investment
   
  * Closure of Hong Kong office to create a centralised investment team
   
  * Commitment to launch of UK asset management business
   
  * Focus on cost management and service improvement in Alliance Trust Savings
   
  * Overhead reduction to improve efficiency
   
Key strategic priority to focus on quoted equities as our core investment

Alliance Trust will seek to deliver strong long-term performance through
investing primarily in equities, and will continue to operate on a self-managed
basis with a low cost base and level of risk.

We will create a global equity portfolio which will complement our existing
regional portfolios by deploying capital across equity markets.  It will draw
on the expertise of our regional managers by using their analysis and research
to build a high conviction portfolio of recommended stocks.

We will retain a modest exposure to other asset classes where we identify
opportunities to provide enhanced returns for shareholders relative to our core
equity investments. We have sharpened our asset allocation process by
establishing a small team who will focus on risks and returns from our
portfolio and move capital between asset classes quickly and effectively.

We believe our existing private equity capability complements our quoted equity
portfolio and our in-house team will continue selectively to seek additional
opportunities to invest in quality private equity funds. We do not currently
intend to add to our direct property exposure.

The performance target which we adopted for our long-term incentive plan in
2007, based on substantial out-performance against the Retail Prices Index, is
not aligned well with the quoted equity focus of our investment strategy going
forward. A revised plan will be brought to shareholders for approval at the
forthcoming Annual General Meeting. Individual portfolio managers will continue
to be incentivised based on performance against the benchmark most relevant to
their own portfolio, as well as a new measure based on their contribution to
the global portfolio.

Closure of Hong Kong office to create a centralised investment team

Our review concluded that the benefits of a local presence in the Asia-Pacific
region were outweighed by the value of creating a centralised investment team
based in Scotland. This will allow for better exchange of ideas between the
various managers and facilitate the move towards a more cohesive global equity
portfolio. Consequently the Hong Kong office will be closed during the first
quarter of 2009.

Commitment to the launch of UK asset management business

We expect Alliance Trust Asset Management to deliver meaningful returns for
shareholders over the medium to long term and it represents a natural extension
of our core investment business.

We expect to launch the first products early in 2009. These will draw on the
competitive track record of our experienced investment management team in
delivering long-term value. We will manage the funds consistently with the
Trust's own assets in each region.

Focus on cost management and service improvement in Alliance Trust Savings

The search to recruit an MD for Alliance Trust Savings is progressing.

In the light of current market conditions, which have adversely impacted on the
financial performance of this business during the current year, our immediate
priorities are service improvement initiatives as well as ongoing cost
management.

Overhead reduction to improve efficiency

The review concluded that, in current economic and market conditions, the cost
base was unacceptably high. We have undertaken a targeted cost reduction
initiative to remove excessive administration and support costs, and to achieve
staffing levels consistent with our more focused business plan.

This initiative has resulted in the redundancy of some 40 employees in Dundee,
London and Hong Kong, representing 12% of our workforce. With the exception of
Hong Kong, none of the affected employees are engaged in the day-to-day
management of our investment portfolio. We expect that the restructuring costs
will be more than offset by the savings made in the first year.

Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive, commented:

"At the time of my appointment as Chief Executive I recognised that Alliance
Trust is, first and foremost, an investment company and that shareholders look
to us to provide long term value by building on our track record of global
equity investment. The actions we are taking underline our commitment to this
objective. Current market conditions make it all the more important that we
remove unnecessary cost and manage the Company to generate the best possible
returns for shareholders."

Contact

James Leviton and Conor McClafferty

Finsbury Group

0207 251 3801

Other material developments

• NAV including income fell 15.8% in Q3 reflecting the continued uncertainty in
equity markets. Global stock markets declined sharply over the quarter with the
FTSE All-World Index falling 15.7% and the FTSE All-Share falling 19.7%.

• Overseas regional portfolios benefited from weakening Sterling which fell 18%
against the Dollar and 26% against the Yen, but remained relatively stable
against the Euro. At a sector level we have reduced our exposure to Mining and
remain underweight Technology, Banks and Automobiles. We have increased our
overweight position in Tobacco, Utilities and remain overweight in Oil & Gas
Producers and Support Services.

• Our concerns of a recession in the UK, Europe, the US, Japan and some
emerging economies resulted in further reductions in our total equity exposure
to 65.6% of net assets compared to 75.9% at the beginning of the period. The
resultant cash was invested primarily in UK Government Treasury Bills.

• Interest rates were reduced significantly by Central Banks in a coordinated
effort to stabilise the global financial system. The collapse in commodity
prices is another indication of the markets growing concern of a global
recession.

• Looking forward, we anticipate that market conditions will remain very
challenging while the coordinated global economic rescue package takes time to
have the desired effect. However, before stock markets can begin to recover we
need to see a realism in future earnings estimates, further deleveraging of the
financial system and a return to normalised bank lending conditions. The
portfolio continues with its defensive bias and until we see improvements in
these areas we will maintain a high level of cash.

KEY FACTS

Total Net Assets:   £2,160.2m+                     
                                                   
Total Return from                                  
31/07/08                                           
                                                   
to 31/10/08:        (26.0%)                        
                                                   
NAV:                322.4p+                        
                                                   
The NAV is published daily on our website          
www.alliancetrust.co.uk                            
                                                   
Share price*:       245.0p+                        
                                                   
Discount:           24.0%+                         
                                                   
Total Expense Ratio                                
                                                   
(year to 31/01/08): 0.56%                          
                                                   
* Source: Factset   + At 31 October 2008           

ASSET ALLOCATION %

Equities       65.6
                   
Private         3.2
Equity             
                   
Preference      0.7
Shares             
                   
Subsidiaries    1.9
                   
Property        3.0
                   
Other           5.0
investments        
                   
Cash           22.4
                   
Other Net       0.5
Assets             
                   
Gross Assets  102.3
                   
Gearing       (2.3)
                   
Net Assets    100.0

EQUITY PORTFOLIO DISTRIBUTION

GEOGRAPHIC EQUITY ONLY           INDUSTRY EQUITY ONLY     
                                                          
                         %                               %
                                                          
UK (Large & Mid)      40.8       Oil & Gas            16.3
                                                          
N America             27.1       Financials           15.0
                                                          
Europe (Large &       14.7       Industrials          12.1
Mid)                                                      
                                                          
Asia Pacific Ex        8.0       Consumer Goods       11.7
Japan                                                     
                                                          
UK (Small)             7.2       Health Care           9.6
                                                          
Japan                  2.1       Consumer Services     7.8
                                                          
                                 Utilities             6.7
                                                          
                                 Basic Materials       6.5
                                                          
                                 Telecommunications    5.8
                                                          
                                 Technology            4.8
                                                          
                                 Collective            3.7
                                 Investments              

Top 20 investments

Rank     Movement     Rank last    Name                        Value £m       
                      qtr                                                     
                                                                              
1        -            (1)          Royal Dutch Shell `B'       63.6           
                                                                              
2        â–²            (3)          BP                          59.3           
                                                                              
3        â–¼            (2)          HSBC                        41.2           
                                                                              
4        -            (4)          Vodafone                    41.0           
                                                                              
5        â–²            (10)         GlaxoSmithKline             39.4           
                                                                              
6        â–²            (18)         British American Tobacco    32.1           
                                                                              
7        â–²            (13)         Tesco                       25.3           
                                                                              
8        â–²            (12)         Ashmore Global              25.2           
                                   Opportunities                              
                                                                              
9        â–²            (15)         Imperial Tobacco            25.1           
                                                                              
10       â–²            (14)         Premier Alliance Trust      23.6           
                                   Japan Fund                                 
                                                                              
11       â–²            (16)         Reckitt Benckiser           23.4           
                                                                              
12       â–²            (20)         Philip Morris International 23.3           
                                                                              
13       â–²            (19)         Abbott Laboratories         22.6           
                                                                              
14       â–¼            (9)          Premier Alliance Trust Asia 21.6           
                                   Pacific Fund                               
                                                                              
15       â–¼            (8)          BG Group                    20.7           
                                                                              
16       â–²            (17)         Unilever                    19.4           
                                                                              
17       (new)                     Severn Trent                18.8           
                                                                              
18       (new)                     Centrica                    18.7           
                                                                              
19       â–¼            (11)         BHP Billiton                18.4           
                                                                              
20       (new)                     Canadian Pacific Railway    18.3           

Xstrata, Rio Tinto, Plum Creek Timber have dropped out of the Top 20.

Total Investments (ex Cash): £1,725.9m

Top 10 as % of Total: 21.8% Top 20 as % of Total: 33.7%

SECTOR WEIGHTINGS

Top 5 overweight/underweight sector holdings**

                                  Overweight/
                               (underweight)%
                                             
Tobacco                                  4.58
                                             
Oil & Gas Producers                      4.28
                                             
Collective Investments                   3.70
                                             
Support Services                         2.76
                                             
Gas, Water &                             2.27
Multiutilities                               
                                             
Technology Hardware &                  (1.82)
Equipment                                    
                                             
General Financial                      (2.18)
                                             
Automobiles & Parts                    (2.23)
                                             
Software & Computer                    (2.68)
Services                                     
                                             
Banks                                  (2.80)

Top 5 active overweight/underweight holdings**

                                  Overweight/
                               (underweight)%
                                             
Royal Dutch Shell                        3.64
                                             
BP                                       3.41
                                             
Vodafone                                 2.39
                                             
GlaxoSmithKline                          2.27
                                             
HSBC                                     2.25
                                             
Wal-Mart Stores                        (0.88)
                                             
Procter & Gamble                       (0.90)
                                             
Microsoft                              (1.02)
                                             
General Electric                       (1.03)
                                             
Exxon Mobil                            (1.22)

Portfolio weight is calculated as a % of Net Asset Value less Cash and Other
Net Assets

**FTSE All-World Index used