Alliance gets year off to great start

INVESTMENT company Alliance Trust has enjoyed its best start to a year in two decades, lifted by the soaring stock market and a revamp of its business.

Allaince Trust chief exectuve Katherine Garrett Cox Allaince Trust chief exectuve Katherine Garrett-Cox

Its shares, up 1½p to 437p, have risen by 16 per cent since January to hit an all-time high while the value of its investments, reported as net asset value, have risen by 13 per cent.

Led by chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox, the company rebuffed shake-up plans by rebel shareholder Laxey Partners but it has restructured its portfolio and now holds shares in only 100 companies against 450 four years ago.

Shareholders are being rewarded by an increase in the ordinary dividend payout and a special dividend.

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Garrett-Cox warned that the eurozone and US debt issues that had dogged markets over the past four years had not gone away.

She added: “However we invest in companies, not markets, and valuations for many companies remain compelling.”

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