Interim Management Statement

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT For Quarter Ending 30 April 2010 Material developments * The NAV Total Return was up 11.4%, while the FTSE All World Index up 13.1% and the FTSE All-Share Index up 8.8%. Although yields on Government bonds have remained steady, corporate bonds have experienced yield tightening. The US dollar has staged a small recovery, while both Sterling and the Euro have come under pressure. Commodities have rallied strongly, with oil and gold up 18% and 9% respectively. * Core equity exposure represents 94.9% of Net Assets and net borrowings of 4.7%. Sector exposures remain largely unchanged. We continue to be cautious of Consumer sectors and will remain underweight in these areas, as we are in Financials, Telecommunications and Utilities. Our largest overweight positions are in Basic Materials, Industrials, Oil & Gas and Technology, as they will benefit most from a pick-up in economic activity. We also maintain our preference for investing in companies with exposure to Asian growth. * Financial instability across Europe has increased, although the rescue plan for Greece has temporarily calmed markets. In the UK, the emergence of a coalition government may postpone the implementation of any significant policy measures; however a period of fiscal austerity is certain. Although the economic backdrop is improving, the sustainability of the global recovery and the level of fiscal tightening required to reduce the burden of debt to a manageable level remains a cause for concern. We continue to focus on companies with strong balance sheets, experienced management and credible growth plans over the medium term. In developed markets, the "lower for longer" regime from Central Banks will persist in the short term and equities and other risk assets will attract greater inflows and potentially add further to market gains. * In March 2010, Alliance Trust bought back 6m shares (0.9%) at a cost of £19.7m. The shares were bought at a 1% discount to the prevailing price, increasing the NAV per share by 0.8%. This was an investment decision and does not presage the introduction of a discount control mechanism. * The dividend for the year was 8.15p per share, an increase of 1.9% on the basic dividend in 2009. The fourth interim dividend was paid on 1st April 2010 and we expect the dividend for the coming year to be at least 8.25p. KEY FACTS Total Net Assets: £2,767.1m --------------------------------------------- NAV Total Return from 31/01/10 to 30/04/10: 11.7%* --------------------------------------------- Total Expense Ratio (year to 31/01/10): 0.69% --------------------------------------------- Year End: 31 January 2011 --------------------------------------------- Date of Incorporation: 21 April 1888 --------------------------------------------- Dividend: Dividends are paid quarterly on or around the last day of January, April, July and October. The total dividend payable for the year to 31 January 2010 was 8.15p --------------------------------------------- Capital: 667,059,760 shares of 2.5p --------------------------------------------- ISIN: GB00B11V7W98 --------------------------------------------- * Source: Fundamental Data  The NAV is published daily on our website www.alliancetrust.co.uk ASSET ALLOCATION % Equities 94.9 Private Equity 3.3 Preference Shares 1.7 Subsidiaries 0.7 Property 1.8 Other investments 1.8 Cash 1.8 Other Net Assets 0.5 Gross Assets 106.5 Gearing (6.5) Net Assets 100.0 EQUITY PORTFOLIO DISTRIBUTION GEOGRAPHIC (EQUITY ONLY)   INDUSTRY (EQUITY ONLY)   %     % Emerging Markets 0.8   Utilities 1.1 Europe 13.9   Telecommunications 2.5 Pan Asia 23.0   Consumer Services 6.9 North America 28.9   Health Care 7.3 United Kingdom 33.4   Basic Materials 8.4       Technology 11.3       Consumer Goods 10.5       Oil and Gas 13.3       Industrials 18.2       Financials 20.5 Trust Performance (%)   1 Year 2 Years 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years Price 17.5 (1.3) (8.9) 28.7 11.1 Total Return 20.9 4.5 (1.4) 45.4 42.6 NAV Total Return 32.9 4.6 1.9 46.8 32.4 FTSE All-World Index (£)-Price* 32.5 4.6 4.1 43.4 (12.8)  FTSE All-World Index (£)-Total Return* 35.9 10.7 12.8 62.3 22.2   10 year returns are based on the performance of the FTSE World Index (£) * Alliance Trust does not have a fixed benchmark Source: FactSet/Fundamental data Top 20 investments Rank Movement Rank last qtr Name Value £m 1 ▲ (2) BP 66.9 2 ▼ (1) HSBC 64.2 3  - (3) Royal Dutch Shell 54.9 4  - (4) Rio Tinto 47.5 5 ▲ (13) GlaxoSmithKline 47.0 6 ▲ (7) InterOil 46.9 7 ▼ (5) BHP Billiton 44.1 8 ▲ (9) New York Community Bancorp 40.0 9 ▲ (12) Philip Morris 36.6 10 ▲ (11) Vodafone 34.7 11 ▼ (6) British American Tobacco 34.1 12 (new)   Canadian Pacific Railway 32.6 13 ▲ (18) Tesco 32.5 14 ▲ (17) Republic Services 32.0 15 ▼ (8) Prudential 32.0 16 ▼ (14) Diageo 30.9 17 ▲ (20) Amdocs 30.1 18 (new)   CNOOC 29.4 19 (new)   Cisco Systems 29.2 20 (new)   Toyota 28.8 Scottish & Southern, Suncor, Diamond Offshore and Reckitt Benckiser have dropped out of the Top 20. Total Equity Investments: £2,628.9m Top 10 as % of Net Assets: 18.4% Top 20 as % of Net Assets: 30.2% SECTOR WEIGHTINGS Top 5 overweight/underweight sector holdings*   Overweight/(underweight)% Mining 2.94 Support Services 2.88 Technology Hardware & Equipment 2.33 Industrial Engineering 1.97 Oil and Gas 1.88 Telecommunications (1.45) Gas, Water & Multiutilities (1.55) Food Producers (1.62) Industrial Metals (1.95) Financial Services (2.47) Top 5 active overweight/underweight holdings*   Overweight/(underweight)% BP 1.93 InterOil 1.79 HSBC 1.78 BHP Billiton 1.77 New York Community Bancorp 1.50 Proctor & Gamble (0.68) General Electric (0.75) Apple (0.87) Microsoft (0.99) Exxon Mobil (1.19) Portfolio weight is calculated as a % of equity only. *FTSE All-World Index used  Weightings are calculated on a look-through basis whereby holdings in the Trust are combined with those of Alliance Trust Asset Management's funds to calculate total exposure. For further information, please contact: Evan Bruce-Gardyne Head of Investor Relations Alliance Trust PLC 8 West Marketgait Dundee DD1 1QN Tel: +44 (0)1382 321000 Email: investor@alliancetrust.co.uk [HUG#1417383]
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