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) Â INDUSTRY (EQUITY ONLY)
 %   %
Emerging Markets 0.8 Â Utilities 1.1
Europe 13.9 Â Telecommunications 2.5
Pan Asia 23.0 Â Consumer Services 6.9
North America 28.9 Â Health Care 7.3
United Kingdom 33.4 Â 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) Â
FTSE All-World Index (£)-Total Return* 35.9 10.7 12.8 62.3 22.2 Â
 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 â–² (2) BP 66.9
2 â–¼ (1) HSBC 64.2
3 Â - (3) Royal Dutch Shell 54.9
4 Â - (4) Rio Tinto 47.5
5 â–² (13) GlaxoSmithKline 47.0
6 â–² (7) InterOil 46.9
7 â–¼ (5) BHP Billiton 44.1
8 â–² (9) New York Community Bancorp 40.0
9 â–² (12) Philip Morris 36.6
10 â–² (11) Vodafone 34.7
11 â–¼ (6) British American Tobacco 34.1
12 (new) Â Canadian Pacific Railway 32.6
13 â–² (18) Tesco 32.5
14 â–² (17) Republic Services 32.0
15 â–¼ (8) Prudential 32.0
16 â–¼ (14) Diageo 30.9
17 â–² (20) Amdocs 30.1
18 (new) Â CNOOC 29.4
19 (new) Â Cisco Systems 29.2
20 (new) Â 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*Â
 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*Â
 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]
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.