Hong Kong Office

The Alliance Trust PLC

The Alliance Trust announces that, in conjunction with the Second Alliance
Trust, it is planning to open an office in Hong Kong from which its Asian
investments will be managed.

The associated press release follows:

Alliance Trusts
Press release

2 March 2005
For immediate release

UK INVESTMENT COMPANIES TO OPEN ASIAN OFFICE TO MANAGE £320m REGIONAL
PORTFOLIO

Two leading UK investment trust companies are planning to open an office in Asia
that will manage their growing regional investment portfolios that total more
than £320m.

The Scottish based companies, The Alliance Trust PLC and The Second Alliance
Trust PLC, announced today (Wednesday) that they plan to open the office in Hong
Kong early this summer to manage their widening portfolios of investments more
efficiently and identify the best investment opportunities.

Asian investments make up around 15% of the more than £2bn invested by the
Alliance Trusts around the world. To date, the companies have always managed
international investments from their headquarters and this would be the first
regional office they have opened.

Alliance Trusts Chief Executive Alan Harden said, "Asia is critically important
to our companies because of the vibrancy of its economies and the potential they
offer to investors seeking growth in our capital and income."

Harden said, "Now that the Asian market has re-emerged stronger from various
challenges over the last decade we are confident about the region's future. We
need to be as close as possible to this complex and fast-moving region to invest
efficiently, spot opportunities early and monitor our growing portfolio."

He said, "Asia presents cultural, language and time-zone differences that mean
the best way to do business efficiently and identify profitable opportunities is
to have an investment team on the ground. Also, our contacts and experience in
Asia will allow us to build the team of our choice and they will offer us a
unique insight that we can use across the portfolio."

The Alliance Trusts' investment in Asia has more than tripled in the last ten
years to £320m and many of the companies in which they invest are
increasingly dependent on the Chinese, Japanese and other Asian markets. The
Trusts made their first investment in Asia in 1906 with the purchase of a bond
issued by a Japanese mining and railway company and began investing on a larger
scale in the region from 1976.

Alliance Trusts Head of Equities Grant Lindsay said, "As investors we want to go
where the growth is. Asia has learned the lessons from the regional crisis of
1997 and, with its economies now more balanced between export driven growth and
domestic consumption, we believe that the region is better placed for sustained
growth than it has ever been."

The Alliance Trusts have been investing around the world since the 1880s. They
began as mortgage lenders to homesteaders in the US and invest in a wide range
of assets including property, oil and mineral rights, fixed income instruments
and equities.

Notes to editors

  1.   The Alliance Trust PLC and The Second Alliance Trust PLC are two
       listed UK companies with investment trust status. According to
       latest performance figures from Standard & Poor's, the Alliance
       Trust is the third largest UK investment trust by asset size, while
       the Second Alliance is ranked 19th. As at 31 January 2005, the
       Alliance Trust had net assets of £1.6bn, while the Second
       Alliance had net assets of £544m. The Trusts are based in
       Dundee.

  2.   Chief Executive Alan Harden was appointed in January 2004. Before
       joining the Alliance Trusts, he spent the majority of his career in
       the investment industry in Asia either managing portfolios directly
       or managing businesses that carry out these activities. From 2000,
       he was Pacific Regional Head of Citigroup Asset Management and a
       Member of the Global Executive Committee, based in Japan. From 1994
       to 2000 he was Global Head of Investment Services for Standard
       Chartered Bank, based in Singapore.

  3.   Photographs of Alan Harden and Grant Lindsay are available on
       request

For more information please contact:

Jane Holligan
Media Relations Manager
Alliance Trusts
Phone: [phone]
Mobile: [phone]
email: [e-mail]

ENDS