Alliance Share Discussion Threads

[marauder7] 29/6/2009 22:16

IOMhere - I agree.

[iomhere] 15/5/2009 10:11

penandnen
It depends if the small trades you mentioned were "O" or "AT". Looking at the graphs of ATST and, say LWI, over five years then ASTS has been the better of the two. Discount to asset value is 11.5% compared with a negligible percentage for LWI although LWI's current dividend yield is higher.
All in all I can't see any reason for your concern.

[penandnen] 03/3/2009 15:40

Can anybody throw any light on trading activity of Alliance Trust shares. For some weeks now there have been hundreds of small sell orders bargain size 138 and 110 (obviously uneconomic size for genuine trades). On the other side, there are some purchases clearly working up the share price (narrowing the discount). I can't find any public information on these activities. Best beware trading here until we find out what's going on?

[deswalker] 05/12/2008 11:13

Good to see some relative strength here. Maybe the market is finally waking up to the very solid NAV performance, 10% net-cash and abnormal discount. There's no reason for it to trade at least 10% cheaper than virtually every other similar trust, so some switching looks to be a no brainer to me.

[deswalker] 24/11/2008 22:21

Yes, I've been adding quite heavily down here. NAV performance has been very impressive the last couple of years, particularly during this downturn and the 20% discount is 10% too much IMO. I switched my entire holding of BTEM into these on very favourable terms too.

My biggest equity holding. Will never shoot the lights out obviously but as a long-term low-risk play it will hopefully serve its purpose.

[topvest] 24/11/2008 21:10

Bought some of these first thing today; a safe a place as most to put your money in these difficult times. I have given up on gilts as the return is too low, and I'm not convinced they are zero risk given our governments desire to rack up enormous debt levels. Going for an ungeared return on the FTSE 100 is pretty safe at this price in my opinion.

[washbrook] 10/9/2008 13:12

OWEN
Just a matter of interest
From 31/12/2007
All three stocks equalised at CTY's share price of 280.25p.
At last nights close.
CTY 249p yld 4.65%
Alliance 242p yld 2.53%
Merchants 227p yld 5.706%

[owen999] 06/5/2008 09:18

Three Investment trusts for trading.
Just an exercise.
From Friday close 2.5.08
AT 15.09hours Alliance is on a discount of 2.409% to Merchants Trust
City of London I.T is trading even to Merchants Trust.
I will keep on eye on the three stocks.
----------------------------------------
From Friday close 2.5.08
Merchants is 5.15% down since 31.12.07
Alliance is 2.9% down since 31.12.07
City of London down since 31.12.07

[tap3] 10/11/2007 01:49

bought on basis of good investments & good 5yr growth which is now faltering
agree with kingfast & Gilston
Hanging in for a few more weeks

[gilston] 30/10/2007 17:12

If only Knight Vinke, or some other activist, would have a go at this one as they are doing to HSBC.

With a huge discount, sleepy Scottish management in Dundee, poor track record & diversification for the sake of it, Alliance deserves nothing less.

[kingfast] 24/10/2007 08:49

Gone nowhere since April 2006

[slyfox] 23/10/2007 08:59

Online system is very good. However, it IS still a palaver to get cash out - have to fill in a form, send a cheque for £10 and eventually they send a cheque out to you. Prehistoric on that front. Still, they don't charge inactivity fees which is good for a fairly inactive investor!

[kingfast] 28/9/2007 12:43

Discount now 17%, sentiment is poor.

[tap3] 22/8/2007 03:26

Yes, rates are very competitive, but can they be sustained?
Bought shares Feb 07 on basis of good 5yr growth.
Uncomfortable with Aug 22 situation.
Looks a bit too frantic!

[deanforester] 19/7/2007 18:16

You are out of date. They have a new on-line system, with very competitive rates.

[roby37] 19/7/2007 08:58

My advice would be to steer well clear of Alliance Trust Savings. Plenty of ISA and PEP providers with lower transaction charges, £8 or £10 and no Corporate Actions charges of a ludicrous £25 or charges to get cash out. Because I signed a transaction form in the back of a taxi they wanted proof of my signature from an accountant or of all people a solicitor, this despite the fact my solicitor was in prison for stealing clients money! Considering their investment record it is amusing that they should now be hoping to manage other funds.

[not manu] 17/7/2007 16:46

i'm gobsmacked.

the dundee boys and girls have introduced a summer offer to buy shares commission free and sell shares for only £5!!

[beddj] 15/1/2007 14:45

Now that one can trade online this is one of the best places for PEP and ISA accounts, no management fees!

I have had my pep with them since peps were introduced, always found them a great reliable organisation.

They even help you to move accounts from other places by helping to pay transfer fees.

[slyfox] 15/11/2006 13:23

ATST's new online pilot is good to use. Very user friendly. And at £12.50 a trade, competitive on instant trading.

[jonwig] 26/9/2006 08:48

AT plans asset management arm
ALISTAIR MCARTHUR

ALLIANCE Trust, the Dundee-based generalist investment trust, is aiming to take the financial services sector by storm, announcing plans to launch an asset management arm.

AT Asset Management, which will be based in Hong Kong, will tap into the wealth of talent already at the company by initially launching two portfolios run by Alliance's fund managers.
Click to learn more...

Alliance Trust chief executive Alan Harden said the company, which was founded in the 1880s and merged with the Second Alliance Trust this year, has had demand from investors about how they can get exposure to the talent it has on board.

"We have formed the asset management company so that we can unlock the full potential of our expert investment team, to create value for shareholders," he said.

Anthony Muh, Alliance Trust's head of Asia Pacific, will lead a team of three fund managers and three analysts, although this is likely to expand over the next 18 months. Initially, the asset management arm will offer Asia-Pacific ex-Japan equity and Japanese equity open-ended funds for UK investors, and will try to win mandates to run money for institutions.

"They will be managed by our guys there, so investors get the same style of long-term, good-value, strong management - but in those high growth markets," Harden said.

Over time, AT Asset Management will start to take each of the managers and look at how it can offer them separately for shareholders and customers who want to build a portfolio.

Although there are no specific targets for funds under management, Harden wants to build the whole financial services arm into a substantial business.

"It's the start of a long road, but we are looking to become a big player in financial services," he said.

"We are pretty patient about building the business over the medium term. We already have the investment talent on board."

Last year, the trust bought Wolanski's, the pension business, it has extended its investment-dealing capability. It is also extending its banking business.

[analyzer] 30/6/2006 05:48

NAV 380+; Dow 200+ up, watch this baby fly today .............. IMHO

[analyzer] 22/6/2006 07:38

Excellent jonwig. Plenty of upside for ATST today. I am also looking at Dunedin Enterprise Trust which I understand is cash rich and at a discount.

[jonwig] 21/6/2006 16:17

Alliance Trust (ATST), the Dundee-based independently managed generalist investment trust founded in 1888, has today merged with its stablemate Second Alliance to form a single trust with assets under management of about £2.5bn.

Shareholders in Second Alliance have been issued with 8.7453 new Alliance Trust shares for each share in Second Alliance they held at 6pm yesterday, based on a formula asset value for Second Alliance of 3,334.49p at 15 June. After a 10-for-one share split the formula asset value for Alliance Trust on the same day is 381.29p.

Second Alliance shareholders will have any fractional share entitlements in the new trust aggregated and sold in the market, with net proceeds of £3 or more being paid back to them on 30 June.

Alliance Trust chairman Lesley Knox said: "The merger, which won overwhelming support, allows us to go forward as one, simplified company, totally focused on creating value for our shareholders by continuing to invest wisely across different asset classes, while balancing risk."

The vote to merge the trusts took place on 10 May. The new trust will adopt a quarterly dividend policy, as opposed to the twice-yearly dividends paid by the two separate trusts, with the first dividend expected to be paid on 31 January 2007.

At 30 April the original Alliance Trust was 56% invested in the UK, with 13% each in North America and Europe and 10% in Japan. Its biggest sector weighting was to financials, at 31% of the portfolio. The Second Alliance portfolio was effectively the same. Despite its name, Second Alliance was launched five years earlier than Alliance, in 1883. The two have shared staff, premises and investment objectives since 1918.

At 12.30pm in London shares in the merged trust were trading at 334.25p, down 0.75p on the new opening price of 335p.

[deswalker] 19/6/2006 15:04

I'm waiting for the official calculation of the conversion ratio. It should have been fixed as of close of business last thursday but still no RNS.

The relative movements of ATST and SAT must be linked to the merger and have been very strange these last few weeks. I shall be glad when it's all done and dusted and hopefully some normality can return to ATST. I hold ATST and SAT in roughly equal amounts so I'm pretty relaxed if the short term prices are being skewed by arbitrageurs one way or the other. However, in the medium term it will all come out in the wash and normality will return.

[analyzer] 19/6/2006 14:24

Do not understand how ATST are down 60p, yet SAT are up 130p !! Only a couple of days before they merge, but no more funds to invest due to poor performance of VOD !