Alliance Share Discussion Threads

[longandwrong1] 20/3/2015 14:31

I don't think Elliott have much of a chance...

[gilston] 17/3/2015 20:45

Elliott need to spell out their proposals for future management. If they want to outsource, let them say so & to whom they want to grant the mandate.

[mw8156] 16/3/2015 22:18

just wondering how hargreaves makes it to the FTSE100 whereas alliance trust savings is still in the build phase and loss making though their rates are so much better than Hargreaves' for the private investor who doesn't trade v much.

[meijiman] 16/3/2015 12:32

the Board here seems supine......

[topvest] 16/3/2015 12:15

This company is run as the CEO's empire rather than as a lean and efficiently run trust with a fantastic record. I will probably vote to have them removed this time around, provided Elliott have a better alternative. I could instantly name 10 better managers to look after this trust. Really...how difficult is it for the Board to see that there are much much better options than sub-par mediocrity.

[topvest] 16/3/2015 12:09

To be honest she has to go. This is a great company and it deserves a half decent team that act in shareholders' interests. 4 years on and Alliance Trust Savings (worth something) and Alliance Trust Investments (a guaranteed waste of time) still haven't turned a profit. We all want Alliance Trust to continue, as that great institution that it is, but surely there is a better option than her poor high cost leadership. She has had more than enough time and has failed.

[meijiman] 22/1/2015 13:55

The useless ceo has just gone to Davos on a personal vanity mission.Cost to the company maybe $200k I read. Money well spent?

[topvest] 31/10/2014 13:16

I'd rather they didn't go for buy-backs. Appoint a decent investment manager and/or CEO and the discount would vanish. She has had far too long and not delivered.

[gilston] 31/10/2014 12:46

The Board could also usefully authorise more share buy-backs for cancellation as they have authority to go to 14.9% but are falling far short of this figure.

[topvest] 30/10/2014 19:48

Isn't it time for a new CEO or investment manager at Alliance Trust? Her performance has been poor in my view and she is paid too much money for the below benchmark returns that have been generated. She also seems to rotate her investment teams far too quickly (i.e. they leave...why?). The blame for the mediocre performance and strategy has to rest with the CEO. Time to go before this great institution is ruined by activist investors.

[topvest] 29/3/2014 22:07

Very opaque and pretty annual report I thought. Totally lacking on substance, but full of flowery strategy. It's not very clear on financials for the investment trust, alliance savings and the asset management business. One gets the overriding feeling that this is because they are trying to dress-up and hide:

- the investment trust performance is average and costs are excessive;
- the alliance savings business only grew by 13% in a bull market;
- the asset management business is still a bit of a dog.

Be good if we got a better CEO in my opinion. She has had more than enough time (and much too much money) but has not really made much tangible progress. Lets get a serious manager on board to take this forward and make it the great company it should be. Witan or Aberdeen would do a much better job.

[gilston] 26/2/2014 17:17

Elliot`s timing could reflect improved Alliance p`folio management & better results coming through from the savings business.

[obbig60] 26/2/2014 16:00

The 2% jump in the ATST price today seems to have been due to the news that a US vulture fund - Elliot Partners - have increased their stake above 10%.



It's high time we had something to get the discount down!

[miata] 24/11/2013 18:59

4 December 3rd Quarterly 2013/14 XD Date

[gilston] 30/10/2013 16:51

450,000 shares bought back for cancellation in October. Interesting.

[topvest] 12/3/2013 20:28

Yes, a safe home for your money.

Great to see Alliance Trust Savings break into profit in Q4 - this platform has quite a bit of potential with only 4% market share and £10m of revenue.

Alliance Trust Investments is still going slow though with a £10m cost base and only £4m of revenue. The cost base needs trimming or they need to do a deal to acquire further AUM in my opinion.

Once these subsidiaries start contributing to earnings properly then this could be very helpful to the dividend prospects.

[127tolmers] 21/1/2013 17:13

one for my Sipp, ticks the boxes, performance, yield and discount

[northernlass] 06/5/2012 03:43

Long Term Winners

So which of today's businesses look set to stand the test of time? One obvious avenue to consider is Britain's rich seam of investment trusts.

Several are themselves well over a hundred years old: Alliance Trust (LSE: ATST) and Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust (LSE: FRCL), for instance, date back to 1888 and 1868 respectively. Monks (LSE: MNKS) dates back to 1929. Scottish Mortgage (LSE: SMT) has been riding out uncertain economic conditions since 1909.

Hunting The 100 Year Old Share



Also,

Here's a couple of links about SCLP, one of the hottest stocks at the moment:

[marauder7] 20/4/2012 15:12

Wasn't this caused by small automated (re)investments of dividend income or new contributions?

Thinking of dipping my toe in this again, now that the NAV discount is forecast to narrow.

[trustman] 31/1/2012 16:55

Apologies.....should have been on ARR thread.T
Crossed over because of ATST comment on ARR thread

[trustman] 31/1/2012 16:53

Interesting gearing......without borrowing!
Stock pretty volatile and likes a "risk on" market but that said shares have recently traded at c 20% discount to NAV......waiting for next update

[gilston] 23/1/2012 16:53

Some improvement, but they need to get the dividend yield up. We can but hope!

[essentialinvestor] 19/8/2011 11:32

Nearly 19% of the Fund invested in Financials at the 31/07/2011
dear oh dear imv.

[huttonr] 20/5/2011 18:22

The AGM result is about what I expected - I like the phrase "The Board's approach to share buybacks has developed" in the pre-AGM announcement - this looks like political language for "we've been frightened by Laxey into taking some action'. So, I think Laxey has done a good job.

Hopefully, they will also push harder, and perhaps change some staff, to improve the investment performance.

[jonwig] 20/5/2011 14:58

Laxey defeated, but vote seems to be about 1:2.

Board will obviously need to take note, but maybe they were doing that anyway.

We voted our family holding against Laxey on the assumption that its resolution was too rigid.