Interim Management Statement

Personal Assets Trust PLC 11 February 2008 Personal Assets Trust plc Interim Management Statement For the Three Month Period from 1 November 2007 to 31 January 2008 Investment Objective Personal Assets is an investment trust run expressly for private investors. Its capital structure is the simplest possible for an investment trust, consisting only of ordinary shares. Its investment policy is to protect and increase (in that order) the value of shareholders' funds over the long term and to earn as high a total return as is compatible with a lower level of volatility than the FTSE All-Share Index. Since Personal Assets invests for the long term, the Board assesses performance not annually at the end of each accounting year but over rolling three-year periods. We aim to pay as high, secure and sustainable a dividend as is compatible with maintaining our investment flexibility. We intend the present dividend rate to grow in real terms and it is our policy never to cut the dividend rate, so shareholders know that each half-yearly payment will at least equal the previous one. The Board's policy is to ensure that the shares of Personal Assets always trade at close to NAV. Performance Summary As at As at 31 January 31 October 2008 2007 Movement Market capitalisation £183.6m £187.4m (2.0%) Shareholders' funds £185.1m £187.2m (1.1%) Effective liquidity 70.0% 100.0% - Share price £255.50 £259.00 (1.4%) Net asset value per share £257.61 £258.70 (0.4%) (Discount)/premium to NAV (0.8%) 0.1% - FTSE All-Share index 3,000.10 3,454.12 (13.1%) As at As at 31 January 30 April 2008 2007 Movement Market capitalisation £183.6m £193.4m (5.1%) Shareholders' funds £185.1m £192.4m (3.8%) Effective liquidity 70.0% 50.7% - Share price £255.50 £266.00 (3.9%) Net asset value per share £257.61 £264.70 (2.7%) (Discount)/premium to NAV (0.8%) 0.5% - FTSE All-Share index 3,000.10 3,355.60 (10.6%) Period Review and Material Events A review of the six months ended 31 October 2007 and of material events that took place during that period will be found in Personal Assets Trust plc's Interim Report. This also contains a review of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of our financial year to 30 April 2008. Since the publication of the Interim Report we have continued to be bearish of the UK and US equity markets. At 31 October 2007 we were 100% liquid. As the UK and US equity markets fell during January 2008, however, we decided to lock in some of our resulting outperformance by reducing our liquidity in stages. On 15 January we purchased 365 FTSE 100 March 2008 contracts, reducing the liquidity of the trust to 90%. On 16 January we purchased a further 318 contracts, reducing our liquidity to 80%, and on 21 January an additional 256 contracts, reducing our liquidity to 70%. Since 31 January 2008, the markets having recovered to some extent from their January lows, we have sold 380 FTSE 100 contracts to increase our liquidity from 70% to 82%. On 11 January 2008 we sold our holding of 650,000 City Natural Resources at a price of 203.5p, approximately twice what we had originally paid for it. We had held the shares as a way of gaining some exposure to mining and natural resources through the medium of a listed investment trust. On 21 January we decided that Royal Bank of Scotland looked unreasonably cheap and so we purchased 1,485,000 shares at an average price of 362p. By 1 February the price had, in our view, corrected itself for the time being and so we sold 1,505,000 Royal Bank of Scotland shares at a price of 393p. During the three months ended 31 January 2008 the Company purchased 4,994 Ordinary Shares to be held in treasury for a total consideration of £1.3 million, representing 0.7% of the Ordinary Shares in issue at the beginning of the period. Top Ten Holdings as at 31 January 2008 Percentage of shareholders' funds Percentage of UK equity exposure Company Royal Dutch Shell 'B' 7.4 24.4 BP 6.9 23.0 RBS Group 6.2 20.6 GlaxoSmithKline 4.2 13.8 HBOS 4.1 13.7 BT Group 3.6 12.1 Scottish & Newcastle 3.5 11.6 Alliance Trust 2.4 7.9 Barclays 2.0 6.7 Alltria Group 0.8 2.7 Other equities (12) 5.4 18.3 FTSE 100 Futures (16.5) (54.8) Total 30.0 Geographical Analysis as at 31 January 2008 Percentage of shareholders' funds Country UK equity exposure (including futures) 27.7 US equities 2.3 Liquidity 70.0 Total 100.0 Sector Distribution as at 31 January 2008 Sector Percentage of total assets Percentage of FTSE All-Share Oil & Gas 11.5 16.6 Basic Materials (1.7) 10.5 Industrials 1.1 7.0 Consumer Goods 2.9 10.0 Health Care 3.3 6.8 Consumer Services (1.8) 10.7 Telecom 2.4 7.3 Utilities (0.7) 4.5 Financials 9.3 23.0 Investment Trusts 3.9 2.7 Technology (0.2) 0.9 Liquidity 70.0 - Total 100.0 100.0 Materiality Statement Since the 31st January 2008, the Company has sold a further 380 FTSE 100 contracts to increase its liquidity from 70% to 82%. Additional Information Further information regarding the Company, including Quarterly Reports and Investment Plan documents can be obtained from: Steven Budge Personal Assets Trust plc 10 St. Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AA Telephone: 0131 225 9995 Email: steven@personalassetstrust.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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