AGM Statement

20 May 2011

                               ALLIANCE TRUST PLC
                             Annual General Meeting

Alliance Trust PLC is holding its Annual General Meeting in Dundee today, at
which the Board of Directors will update shareholders on the year's performance
and address the resolutions to be voted on.  At the meeting about the Company
will:

  * Provide an update on investment strategy
  * Outline a clear share buyback policy


Investment Strategy

Alliance Trust's diversified investment portfolio has provided low-risk, cost
effective access to global equities for its core investor base for over 120
years. Investment performance is the most critical aspect of the business and,
over the last three years, a number of actions have been taken to refocus on
investment and to enhance performance in the long term. Under Katherine Garrett-
Cox, Alliance Trust has undergone a programme of significant modernisation and
change, overhauling the investment team and systems and refining its portfolio
management techniques to maximise shareholder returns. The building blocks are
now in place for the Trust to deliver better returns than have been seen in the
past and more recent results have laid a solid foundation for the future.

Alliance Trust reaffirms its objective of generating a real return for
shareholders over the medium to long term by a combination of capital growth and
a rising dividend. Delivering consistent long term investment performance will
make Alliance Trust an increasingly attractive investment proposition and
thereby create additional demand for the shares.

The Board recognises that, whilst significant progress has been made within the
investment team over the past three years, improved performance is an on-going
priority.






Alliance Trust performance
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
| Total Shareholder Return | FYTD | 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
| Alliance Trust           | 4.8% | 17.7%  | 17.9%   | 25.6%   | 49.6%    |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
|                          |      |        |         |         |          |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
| Global Growth Sector     | 2.5% | 16.7%  | 10.2%   | 35.9%   | 71.4%    |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
|                          |      |        |         |         |          |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
| FTSE 100                 | 2.5% | 15.3%  | 5.4%    | 25.5%   | 41.8%    |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
| FTSA All-Share           | 2.8% | 16.2%  | 7.4%    | 27.5%   | 51.0%    |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
| FTSE All-World (£)       | 2.8% | 10.7%  | 15.2%   | 42.2%   | 43.2%    |
+--------------------------+------+--------+---------+---------+----------+
Source: Fundamental Data & FactSet as at 18 May 2011

Share buybacks

The Board's approach to share buybacks has developed since it first bought back
shares in October 2009. Since February 2011, Alliance Trust has bought back a
total of 14.8m shares at an average discount of 16.2%. The discount has now
narrowed to 15.2%.

Alliance Trust's Board believes that investment performance is the key driver of
the discount over the longer term. The Board is also committed to the ongoing
flexible use of share buybacks. The step-change in the Company's active use of
buybacks in recent months will continue, taking into account the Company's
discount relative to the peer group. The Board continues to believe that a rigid
discount control mechanism, that fails to take into account factors such as
performance, peer group discounts and general market conditions, is not
appropriate for Alliance Trust.

Chairman succession

As part of the Board's succession plan, Alliance Trust is announcing today that
Lesley Knox will step down as Chairman by the time of the 2012 AGM, after 10
years on the Board. The search for a replacement is already underway.

The Company will issue an RNS following the AGM, outlining the results of the
voting.


 Contacts



 James Leviton / Conor McClafferty

 Finsbury Group

 Tel: [phone]

 Email: [e-mail]

 Web: www.finsbury.com








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Source: Alliance Trust PLC via Thomson Reuters ONE

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