INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
For Quarter Ending 30 April 2007
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The rise in NAV over the quarter reflects good performance from global
equities, particularly in Europe and Asia. At present, the equity portfolio
comprises about 84% of the company's assets.
* Market weakness in late February and early March was used to invest cash,
to the equivalent of 2% of net assets, into the UK, Europe and North
America. In particular, we made meaningful additions in Europe by adding to
the holdings in insurance company Allianz and food retailer Colruyt and
initiating a new holding in Syngenta. This agricultural chemicals company
should benefit from ongoing demand for improvements in crop yields.
* As markets rallied, we reduced our asset allocation position in Japan by
some 2% because of our concerns over the durability of the economic
recovery. We will look to redeploy these monies into Asia Pacific ex Japan
on any market setback.
* Elsewhere, we increased both our property portfolio, with the acquisition
of a London West End office/retail block, and our private equity exposure,
with new holdings in RIT Capital and Promethean India.
* Major features over Q1 included a large amount of merger and acquisition
activity, which was particularly evident in Western markets. Corporate
earnings were generally encouraging in Q1, with US results coming in much
higher than expected. To some extent, this was because the market had
underestimated the benefits of the weaker $ for US exporters and overseas
earners.
KEY FACTS
Total Assets: £2,962.0m
Total Return from 31/01/
07
to 30/04/07: +2.53%
NAV*: 436.6p
The NAV is published daily on our website
www.alliancetrust.co.uk
Share price*: 372.7p
Discount*: 14.6%
Total Expense Ratio
(year to 31/01/07): 0.35%
Year End: 31 January 2008
Date of Incorporation: 21 April 1888
Dividend paid: Quarterly on or around the last day of
Jan, April, July and October. The total
Capital: dividend payable for the year to 31
January 2007 was 7.575p.
ISIN:
671,909,760 shares of 2.5p
GB00B11V7W98
* Source: Datastream
ASSET ALLOCATION
Equities 84.1
Private Equity 3.2
Fixed Income 0.9
Subsidiaries 1.7
Real Estate 3.2
Cash 6.3
Other Net 0.5
Assets
Gross Assets 100.00
EQUITY PORTFOLIO DISTRIBUTION
GEOGRAPHIC INDUSTRY
% %
UK Large Cap 42.1 Financials 29.6
Europe ex UK Large 17.0 Industrials 13.0
N America Large Cap 13.9 Oil & Gas 11.2
UK Small Cap 11.0 Consumer Goods 10.5
Asia Pacific ex 10.1 Consumer Services 9.2
Japan
Japan 5.5 Health Care 8.1
Basic Materials 6.6
Technology 5.2
Utilities 3.9
Telecommunications 2.7
TOP 20 INVESTMENTS+
Move- Rank Value
Rank ment last qtr Name £m
------ ------- ------- ---------------------------------------------- --------
1 â–² (3) Alliance Trust Real Estate Partnership 84.9
2 - BP 73.7
3 â–¼ (1) GlaxoSmithKline 62.9
4 - Royal Dutch Shell 59.2
5 â–² (7) HSBC 54.1
6 â–¼ (5) Royal Bank of Scotland 53.6
7 â–² (13) Vodafone 45.0
8 - Lloyds TSB 43.1
9 â–² (10) Premier Alliance Trust (Asia Pacific) 39.0
10 â–² (11) Premier Alliance Trust (Japan) 34.0
11 â–² (12) Barclays 33.8
12 â–¼ (6) HBOS 32.6
13 *(new) BHP Billiton 32.1
14 â–² (17) Tesco 30.3
15 â–² (19) Reckitt Benckiser 30.0
16 - Anglo American 29.2
17 â–¼ (15) Alliance Trust Savings 28.2
18 - Exxon Mobil 26.6
19 â–¼ (14) Rio Tinto 26.4
20 - Prudential 26.3
Persimmon has dropped out of the top 20
+includes preference holdings
Total Investments (ex â–² (4.8%)
Cash):
â–¼ (0.8%)
Top 10 as % of Total: 20.0%
Top 20 as % of Total: 30.7% â–¼ (1.0%)
SECTOR WEIGHTINGS
Top 5 overweight/underweight sector holdings**
Overweight/(underweight)
%
Nonequity Investment 3.30%
Instruments
Support Services 2.55%
Household Goods 2.36%
Oil & Gas Producers 2.33%
Banks 2.19%
General Financial (2.89)%
Fixed Line Telecommunications (2.08)%
Technology Hardware & Equipment (1.72)%
Industrial Metals (1.52)%
Electricity (1.47)%
Top 5 active overweight/underweight holdings**
Difference %
BP 2.20%
Royal Dutch Shell B 1.94%
GlaxoSmithKline 1.93%
Royal Bank of Scotland 1.68%
HSBC 1.50%
Toyota (0.30)%
Petrochina (0.28)%
Microsoft (0.27)%
JP Morgan Chase (0.24)%
Bank of America (0.15)%
**FTSE Global Equity Index Series All Cap used
OBJECTIVE
Alliance Trust is a self-managed investment company with investment trust
status. Alliance Trust has the objective of being a core investment for
investors seeking a long term store of increasing value.
We allocate our capital across a broad range of asset classes to enhance and
preserve total returns and to provide shareholders with real growth over the
medium to long term.
INVESTMENT POLICY
We use investment techniques such as gearing and hedging to enhance returns and
reduce risks within its portfolio. We do not benchmark against any equity index
as we retain the freedom to move not only between equity markets as
opportunities arise but also to invest in other asset classes.
We pursue our objective by:
* investing in quoted and unquoted equities across the globe in different
sectors and industries;
* investing internationally in preference shares and in debt securities
including government and corporate bonds;
* investing in other assets, including property, cash and other financial
instruments and investment vehicles;
* retaining the ability to borrow, from time to time, and thereby to gear our
portfolio; and
* investing in subsidiary and associated businesses which allows us to expand
into other related activities with the objective of enhancing shareholder
value.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Alliance Trust PLC is a self-managed investment trust company, operating from
Meadow House in Dundee.
The views, information and data in this publication should not be deemed as a
financial promotion or recommendation. Alliance Trust PLC is not authorised to
give financial advice.
For security and compliance monitoring purposes telephone calls may be
recorded.
CONTACT
Kelly O'Donnell
Head of Investor Relations
Alliance Trust PLC, Meadow House,
64 Reform Street, Dundee DD1 1TJ
Tel +44 (0)1382 201700
Fax +44 (0)1382 225133
Email investor@alliancetrust.co.uk
Web www.alliancetrust.co.uk
*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.
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