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Alliance Trust (ATST)

Closed-end funds and OEICs
monabri
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Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454833

Postby monabri » November 1st, 2021, 2:27 pm

https://www.investegate.co.uk/alliance- ... 0000H5248/


"Review of level and funding of the Company’s dividend has been concluded; Board believes that an increased, but still sustainable, level of dividend will benefit existing shareholders and enhance the attractiveness of the Company’s shares.

Third interim dividend for 2021 reset at an increased level of 5.825p; fourth interim dividend for 2021 expected to be declared at the same level.

Total dividend for 2021 expected to be 19.054p, an increase of 32.5% on the 2020 dividend.

From the reset level, the Board expects to continue to extend the Company’s track record of increasing ordinary dividends year-on-year for 2022 and beyond."


"Dividend Declaration
Alliance Trust PLC announces the declaration of a third interim dividend for the year ending 31 December 2021 of 5.825 pence per share payable on 31 December 2021 to shareholders on the register on 3 December 2021. The ex-dividend date is 2 December 2021."

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454869

Postby doug2500 » November 1st, 2021, 4:33 pm

If I understand right they're jumping on the bandwagon of selling capital to provide income (if necessary) or have they always had this policy?

I generally prefer trusts to pay divi's out of income. If I want to sell capital for income I can do so.

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454872

Postby scrumpyjack » November 1st, 2021, 4:45 pm

doug2500 wrote:If I understand right they're jumping on the bandwagon of selling capital to provide income (if necessary) or have they always had this policy?

I generally prefer trusts to pay divi's out of income. If I want to sell capital for income I can do so.


Quite agree. The previous level of dividend was uncovered in 2020 (eps only paid for 70% of the divi), so the proportion paid out of capital will be much greater now. I no longer hold any of the shares, but if I did I would sell any in a taxable account.

Still for those that consciously want a given level of income, it may be convenient to leave it to ATST to decide what is sustainable long term on a total return basis, rather than having to decide to sell a few shares periodically themselves.

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454888

Postby Dod101 » November 1st, 2021, 5:52 pm

As a long term holder of Alliance I am obviously interested in the increase in the dividend. This comes as a direct result of their converting a merger reserve into a distributable reserve. The very big increase in the dividend announced today is to some extent an exercise in kidology because of course the merger reserve, like the now distributable reserves, were and are part of the invested capital of the Trust. We can argue this any way we like but I prefer to see dividends paid from revenue. However, the new Alliance practice seems to be gaining ground and a number of perfectly respectable trusts use capital to fund a dividend. My slight concern is this will erode their capital gains in the longer run.

Alliance is certainly no longer the trust that it was when I first invested in it about 30 years ago. Attending the AGM in their offices, there were only about 30 or so people there and we were all offered a sherry at its conclusion. It usually started about 11 am and was concluded by noon and it was as late as that only if any shareholder asked a question of the Chairman.

Dod

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454890

Postby Lootman » November 1st, 2021, 5:56 pm

Dod101 wrote:the new Alliance practice seems to be gaining ground and a number of perfectly respectable trusts use capital to fund a dividend. My slight concern is this will erode their capital gains in the longer run.

Yes, it is a fashion now, because UK investors crave and demand running yield. A short-sighted view in my opinion. Scottish Mortgage took the road less travelled.

There is a second problem with doing this. It creates an immediate and unavoidable tax event. Whereas allowing those funds instead to remain within the fund's share capital allows me the option of choosing when or whether to incur that tax event.

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454898

Postby scrumpyjack » November 1st, 2021, 6:12 pm

Lootman wrote:
Dod101 wrote:the new Alliance practice seems to be gaining ground and a number of perfectly respectable trusts use capital to fund a dividend. My slight concern is this will erode their capital gains in the longer run.

Yes, it is a fashion now, because UK investors crave and demand running yield. A short-sighted view in my opinion. Scottish Mortgage took the road less travelled.

There is a second problem with doing this. It creates an immediate and unavoidable tax event. Whereas allowing those funds instead to remain within the fund's share capital allows me the option of choosing when or whether to incur that tax event.


Yes, that is why I said I would sell any held in a taxable account. But we should keep a sense of proportion. The new yield is still only about 2.2%!

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#454989

Postby Dod101 » November 1st, 2021, 10:20 pm

scrumpyjack wrote:
Lootman wrote:
Dod101 wrote:the new Alliance practice seems to be gaining ground and a number of perfectly respectable trusts use capital to fund a dividend. My slight concern is this will erode their capital gains in the longer run.

Yes, it is a fashion now, because UK investors crave and demand running yield. A short-sighted view in my opinion. Scottish Mortgage took the road less travelled.

There is a second problem with doing this. It creates an immediate and unavoidable tax event. Whereas allowing those funds instead to remain within the fund's share capital allows me the option of choosing when or whether to incur that tax event.


Yes, that is why I said I would sell any held in a taxable account. But we should keep a sense of proportion. The new yield is still only about 2.2%!


I had hoped that it was more than that. We will see how it pans out over the next year or so.

Dod

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#455049

Postby Dod101 » November 2nd, 2021, 8:48 am

scrumpyjack wrote:
Lootman wrote:
Dod101 wrote:the new Alliance practice seems to be gaining ground and a number of perfectly respectable trusts use capital to fund a dividend. My slight concern is this will erode their capital gains in the longer run.

Yes, it is a fashion now, because UK investors crave and demand running yield. A short-sighted view in my opinion. Scottish Mortgage took the road less travelled.

There is a second problem with doing this. It creates an immediate and unavoidable tax event. Whereas allowing those funds instead to remain within the fund's share capital allows me the option of choosing when or whether to incur that tax event.


Yes, that is why I said I would sell any held in a taxable account. But we should keep a sense of proportion. The new yield is still only about 2.2%!


Most of my shares in Alliance are held in an ISA with a few in certificated form in order to get all the usual bumph from them and the right to attend the AGM with no hassle so from that point of view the new dividend policy is of no tax consequence to me.

And of course Lootman's point re Scottish Mortgage is not quite right as they have paid most of their (very modest) dividend from capital for some time.

Dod

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#495546

Postby richfool » April 21st, 2022, 9:17 am

Thursday 21 April, 2022
Alliance Trust PLC
Alliance Trust PLC - Dividend Declaration

Dividend Declaration

Alliance Trust PLC announces the declaration of a first interim dividend for the year ending 31 December 2022 of 6.0 pence per share payable on 30 June 2022 to shareholders on the register on 6 June 2022. The ex-dividend date is 1 June 2022.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/alliance- ... 5011H8082/

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#518143

Postby richfool » July 29th, 2022, 12:38 pm

Kepler's view of Alliance Trust (ATST):
Alliance Trust PLC
Results analysis from Kepler Trust Intelligence
RNS Number : 2379U
Alliance Trust PLC
29 July 2022

Alliance Trust (ATST)

29/07/2022

Results analysis from Kepler Trust Intelligence

Alliance Trust (ATST) has reported its half year results for the period ending 30 June 2022. Over this six-month period ATST has generated a NAV total return of -10.5%, ahead of both the -11% return of its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI, and the -13.5% median NAV total return of its peers. ATST generated an -11.3% share price return over the same period.

Over the six-month period ATST traded on an average discount of 6.3%, above the 5.9% average for the 2021 financial year.

One of the major developments during the current financial year has been the pay-out of a higher dividend. The board have paid two quarterly dividends totalling 12p for 2022 so far, a 62% increase on the first two dividends paid in 2021.

The other major change to ATST has been the loss of one of its delegated stock picking managers, the team at River and Mercantile.

Kepler View

Alliance Trust's (ATST) recent six-month performance is, in our view, a reminder of the benefits of a diversified approach to investing. While ATST's highly diversified approach had once caused it to lag its benchmark, due to the dominance of a concentrated handful of mega cap stocks, it is by the same merit that ATST has also outperformed over 2022 as the mega cap stocks, primarily the high growth names, have felt the brunt of the selloff.

We believe that ATST offers a core, 'one stop shop' option for an investor's global equity portfolio. Thanks to WTW's strategy there is less chance of investors being caught on the wrong side of a market downturn, as the team ensures that ATST has no style biases which are one major source of potential underperformance.

While offering a diversified, on benchmark stylistic exposure, ATST offers a highly active approach to stock selection. WTW highlights GQG partners, as being one of the noteworthy examples of success over the last six months, having been one of its major return contributors.

Though the selloff in equity markets has been largely indiscriminate, WTW are happy with the fundamental performance of their underlying holdings. In their view, once the broad-based selloff alleviates, fundamentals will become the primary driver of stock returns. They note that if we enter an era of structurally higher inflation, it may mark the end of the growth-style trend which had previously acted as a headwind against ATST's performance.

We believe that the higher dividend is a clear benefit to shareholders, making the trust a more attractive investment vehicle, which could increase the demand for its shares. This, in combination with ATST's ongoing resilience in tough markets, may make its current discount of 6.4% an attractive entry point (as of 27/07/2022).

https://www.investegate.co.uk/alliance- ... 09452379U/

(Dod, you might be interested to know I split my planned additional global growth investment 50/50 between ATST and FCIT. So I will now be able compare them easily. I got in before the Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon results came put.)

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#518144

Postby Dod101 » July 29th, 2022, 12:45 pm

richfool wrote:Kepler's view of Alliance Trust (ATST):
Alliance Trust PLC
Results analysis from Kepler Trust Intelligence
RNS Number : 2379U
Alliance Trust PLC
29 July 2022

Alliance Trust (ATST)

29/07/2022

Results analysis from Kepler Trust Intelligence

Alliance Trust (ATST) has reported its half year results for the period ending 30 June 2022. Over this six-month period ATST has generated a NAV total return of -10.5%, ahead of both the -11% return of its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI, and the -13.5% median NAV total return of its peers. ATST generated an -11.3% share price return over the same period.

Over the six-month period ATST traded on an average discount of 6.3%, above the 5.9% average for the 2021 financial year.

One of the major developments during the current financial year has been the pay-out of a higher dividend. The board have paid two quarterly dividends totalling 12p for 2022 so far, a 62% increase on the first two dividends paid in 2021.

The other major change to ATST has been the loss of one of its delegated stock picking managers, the team at River and Mercantile.

Kepler View

Alliance Trust's (ATST) recent six-month performance is, in our view, a reminder of the benefits of a diversified approach to investing. While ATST's highly diversified approach had once caused it to lag its benchmark, due to the dominance of a concentrated handful of mega cap stocks, it is by the same merit that ATST has also outperformed over 2022 as the mega cap stocks, primarily the high growth names, have felt the brunt of the selloff.

We believe that ATST offers a core, 'one stop shop' option for an investor's global equity portfolio. Thanks to WTW's strategy there is less chance of investors being caught on the wrong side of a market downturn, as the team ensures that ATST has no style biases which are one major source of potential underperformance.

While offering a diversified, on benchmark stylistic exposure, ATST offers a highly active approach to stock selection. WTW highlights GQG partners, as being one of the noteworthy examples of success over the last six months, having been one of its major return contributors.

Though the selloff in equity markets has been largely indiscriminate, WTW are happy with the fundamental performance of their underlying holdings. In their view, once the broad-based selloff alleviates, fundamentals will become the primary driver of stock returns. They note that if we enter an era of structurally higher inflation, it may mark the end of the growth-style trend which had previously acted as a headwind against ATST's performance.

We believe that the higher dividend is a clear benefit to shareholders, making the trust a more attractive investment vehicle, which could increase the demand for its shares. This, in combination with ATST's ongoing resilience in tough markets, may make its current discount of 6.4% an attractive entry point (as of 27/07/2022).

https://www.investegate.co.uk/alliance- ... 09452379U/

(Dod, you might be interested to know I split my planned additional global growth investment 50/50 between ATST and FCIT. So I will now be able compare them easily. I got in before the Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon results came put.)


Thanks for that and the comment addressed to me. I have always liked Alliance, although it would seem that the lost decade when they went through all sorts of convulsions has put people off them. They are no longer a quiet, self managed trust but they seem to have managed to maintain their original ethos. The results are decent for the half year to 30 June and I am not unhappy with their new dividend policy. I have no doubt that you will keep us advised of the comparison with F & C.

I tend not to pay too much attention to analyst's views but it is pleasing that KEPLER seem quite positive on them. Thanks for the post.

Dod

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#518971

Postby richfool » August 1st, 2022, 10:47 pm

From the AIC website:

Has Alliance Trust’s ‘multi-manager’ experiment failed?

1 August 2022
Shareholders have not have sent the global trust to the 'naughty corner' yet, but with five-year returns sliding below its benchmark, questions will be asked about whether the appointment of investment adviser Willis Towers Watson in 2017 has worked.

Five-year returns of Alliance Trust (ATST ) have fallen behind its stock market benchmark, raising a question over whether the move in 2017 to a ‘multi-manager’ approach under Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has worked for shareholders in the £2.9bn global investment trust.

Half-year results last week showed the 134-year-old investment company, which sold its fund manager five years ago after losing a two-year battle over poor performance with activist hedge fund Elliott Associates, did relatively well in the difficult six-month period to 30 June.

Net asset value fell 10.5%, slightly better than the 11% decline in sterling of the MSCI AC World index, although the shares did less well and, even with dividends included, shareholders saw a loss of 11%. Today the shares stand at a 6% discount below their net asset value (NAV).

However, that still put the Dundee-based ahead closed-end fund ahead of the 13.5% average slide in global equity funds (open and closed-ended) tracked by data analyst Morningstar, as well as the average 18.6% tumble of global investment trusts, its immediate rivals. These include the sector giant Scottish Mortgage (SMT ) whose shares halved in a first half marked by extreme stock market turbulence caused by high inflation, rising interest rates and the selloff in early-stage technology stocks.

Although primarily a growth, not an income, fund, Alliance delivered good news on dividends too. The first two quarterly payments for this year totalled 12p per share, 62% more than the 7.4p paid a year ago following a reorganisation of the balance sheet that freed up a pile of capital for potential return to shareholders. This puts the Association of Investment Companies’ ‘dividend hero’ on a 2.4% yield and well on track for a 56th consecutive annual increase in its payouts.

https://www.theaic.co.uk/aic/news/cityw ... ent-failed

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#518975

Postby Dod101 » August 1st, 2022, 11:28 pm

Alliance is to me doing quite well under its new mandate. It cannot be compared to Scottish Mortgage because it simply does not take the same risks. If every trust was set to the same benchmark we could reasonably compare them but they are not so it is a nonsense to judge them against their own benchmark. I saw some figures the other day showing that Alliance is about 20% behind the NASDAQ which cannot be bad.

Dod

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519066

Postby scotia » August 2nd, 2022, 10:33 am

Coincidentally I made investments into both Alliance IT (ATST) and F&C IT (FCIT) about 5 years ago. How did they perform? Looking at the 5 year total return graphs on the Hargreaves Lansdown Site, their shapes both roughly follow a Vanguard Global Tracker (VWRL). But whereas FCIT has ended up a couple of percent above VWRL, I'm afraid that ATST lags VWRL by about 8%. I wonder if this may be due to the costs involved in their multi-level, multi-manager investment approach?
Maybe its time for me to move on from ATST, however I should stress that I am a total return investor, and I don't require a managed income from an IT. Others may value a steady income flow.
Thinking over my comments on a multi-level, multi-manager approach, I wondered what had happened to Witan (WTAN), which I believe also adopted this pattern. Its a long time since I held an investment in Witan, and I was surprised to see how poorly it is now performing. Over 5 years its total return lags a world tracker (VWRL) by more than 30%. How does it survive?
Edit - removed duplicate text

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519080

Postby richfool » August 2nd, 2022, 11:12 am

I must admit when I recently looked at the global growth sector past performance tables, FCIT was performing better than ATST. though I particularly liked ATST's holdings, which included some energy and oil stocks. In the event I split my purchase 50/50 between the two. I was also thinking of adding a small holding of VEVE as a sort of benchmark, to measure against.

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519457

Postby forrado » August 3rd, 2022, 12:43 pm

Alliance Trust v. Foreign & Colonial v. FTSE All World Index Tracker – my experience.

Just to provide a bit of background. I have a much younger brother who was once-upon-a-time a contributing member to a defined benefit pension scheme, that was until the 2001 – 2002 tax year when the company he worked for changed ownership. My brother’s then new employer closed down the defined benefit scheme in favour of one based on defined contributions.

After examining the proposals for this ‘new’ DC pension scheme I advised my brother not to become a participating member for a number of reasons that would take up too much time and space to explain. Instead, I advised him to go it alone via the Stocks & Shares SIPP route, which he has been diligently doing at an annual contribution rate of £3,600 for what is now 21 years.

For the first 10 years it was very much a foundation building exercise with annual SIPP contributions evenly split between the Alliance Trust and Foreign & Colonial (all dividends reinvested). It was not until the 11th year when a 3rd holding was added.

So, from years 1 to 10 ... an equal SIPP contribution of £1,800 annually - plus dividends reinvested - buying Alliance Trust and Foreign & Colonial. Followed by years 11 to 21 with just dividends reinvested buying Alliance Trust and Foreign & Colonial.

Current SIPP holding of Alliance Trust … 9,029 shares

Current SIPP holding of Foreign & Colonial … 10,461 shares

It’s been my experience that throughout the past 21 years F&C has nearly always made the running ahead of Alliance, albeit by only single digit percentage differences. While there have been times when Alliance has briefly nosed ahead, Alliance has always failed to push on. With the benefit of hindsight, rather than matching up these two IT internationalists, a low-cost Global tracker-type fund would have been a better way to go. Unfortunately for UK retail investors, they had to wait until 2014 for Vanguard to launch a FTSE All World Index tracker, followed by an offering from HSBC a couple of years later.

While my brother is quite happy to sit tight as things are, he won't be adding to his SIPP holdings of Alliance Trust and Foreign & Colonial, other than via the ongoing reinvestment of dividends.

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519485

Postby mc2fool » August 3rd, 2022, 2:04 pm

forrado wrote:So, from years 1 to 10 ... an equal SIPP contribution of £1,800 annually - plus dividends reinvested - buying Alliance Trust and Foreign & Colonial. Followed by years 11 to 21 with just dividends reinvested buying Alliance Trust and Foreign & Colonial.

Current SIPP holding of Alliance Trust … 9,029 shares

Current SIPP holding of Foreign & Colonial … 10,461 shares

Which is, of course, totally meaningless unless and until the current share price of each is taken into account.

May I gently suggest that if you'd like the denizens of this board to comment on that, you make it easy for them and look up the price of each, do the arithmetic and present the current £ values of the holdings, rather than leave it for readers to do. An XIRR of both would be good too. :D

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519489

Postby richfool » August 3rd, 2022, 2:08 pm

Thanks for the informative posts, forrado and scotia. I came to much the same conclusions looking at the past performance tables and comparing FCIT and ATST.

In defence of ATST, (which I have no reason to defend), I would suggest, that until a year or two back, it was under different management and was general known as a serial under-performer. It has since changed management and undergone a radical shake-up. Dod knows more of that history I believe. I am also aware that FCIT holds quite a bit of private equity, which is likely to have enhanced its performance. Both trusts use the multi-manager approach, (as does Witan). So as a new investor in both, I am happy to give ATST and FCIT a chance.

I am poised ready to add some VEVE, as a sort of benchmark/comparison, ideally when we have had another fall in markets.. (I prefer to avoid/minimise exposure to the more obscure markets and China currently.)

(Forrado, noting your comments, I wonder if your brother might wish to start directing some funds in VWRL or VEVE, or similar).

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519577

Postby forrado » August 3rd, 2022, 6:54 pm

richfool wrote:(Forrado, noting your comments, I wonder if your brother might wish to start directing some funds in VWRL or VEVE, or similar).

Thank you for that suggestion, between us, my little brother and I arrived at a similar conclusion a number of years ago. Following the establishment of both Alliance and F&C, his 3rd SIPP holding was Law Debenture, that was when Law Debenture was classified as an internationalist trust. However, when Law Debenture announced the switch from Global to UK Equity Income in May 2019 he wanted his SIPP to remain predominately globally focused. While he didn’t want to dispose of Law Debenture for sound performance reasons, he chose instead to establish a 4th SIPP holding in the form of HSBC’s FTSE All World Index OEIC tracker fund which he is currently building on.

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Re: Alliance Trust (ATST)

#519585

Postby scrumpyjack » August 3rd, 2022, 7:14 pm

I don't know how much of Alliance's relatively acceptable performance has come from many years of 'eating itself' but there have been an awful lot of buybacks such that I think there are only about 60% as many shares as there used to be when Empress Katherine Garrett Cox was running it. Of course all that buying shares at a discount flatters the investment performance and cannot go on forever.


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