Alliance Trust
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | LSE: ATST |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1888 |
| Headquarters | Dundee, Scotland, UK |
|
Key people
|
Karin Forseke (Chairman) Katherine Garrett-Cox (CEO) |
| Products | Investment management, pensions |
| Revenue | £110.1 million (2014)[1] |
| £72.5 million (2014)[1] | |
| Profit | £68.8 million (2014)[1] |
|
Number of employees
|
circa 300 (2013) |
| Website | www.alliancetrust.co.uk |
Alliance Trust PLC is a publicly traded investment and financial services company, headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1888, the firm operates the largest investment trust in the UK.[2] Alliance Trust is the sixth largest public company based in Scotland.[3] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has been a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index since March 2011.
History
The Alliance Trust PLC was formed by the 1888 merger of three Dundee-based mortgage and land companies: the Dundee Investment Company, the Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company (see 1888 U.S. Supreme Court case Dundee Mortgage Trust Investment Co v. Hughes, 124 U.S. 157) and the Oregon and Washington Trust (which was set up to provide loans to immigrant farmers on the West Coast of the United States).[4] Many prominent figures in Dundee invested some of their money in the Alliance Trust and its predecessors, including merchants, ship owners, textile manufacturers and businessman such as Sir John Leng.[5] The company subsequently expanded into other asset classes. In 1918 the firm agreed to share premises and other costs with the Western & Hawaiian Investment Company,[6] a mortgage lender which initially focused its business on sugar planters in Hawaii before expanding.[4] Five years later it was renamed The Second Alliance Trust, although no formal merger between the two took place until 2006.[6][7]
The Trusts later moved into fixed income investing in the 1920s and 30s, before adding significant quantities of shares to their portfolios in the late 1950s.[8] A savings division was established by Alliance Trust in 1986, offering pensions and other investment products.[9] A formal merger with The Second Alliance Trust was finally conducted in 2006, as the investment strategies of the two companies had come to closely resemble each other.[10]
The company left its headquarters of over 90 years, Meadow House in Dundee's Reform Street on 1 June 2009 for a purpose-built facility on 8 West Marketgait in Dundee City Centre.[3][7]
In 2011, it was reported that University of Dundee Archive Services had become custodians of the Alliance Trust's extensive archives.[5][11]
Operations
The company focuses its investment in global equities and fixed income and has one of the longest track records of consistent dividend growth of any listed UK company having increased its dividend every year since 1967. It has no fixed asset allocation benchmark and invests in a wide range of asset classes throughout the world to achieve its objective.
Alliance Trust PLC is the parent company to two wholly owned subsidiaries, Alliance Trust Savings and Alliance Trust Investments. Alliance Trust Savings provides ISAs, SIPPs and dealing accounts and administers over £5bn of assets (as at September 2013) on behalf of its customers. Alliance Trust Investments has over £2bn of assets (as at September 2013) under management and provides open ended funds (OEICs) investing in global equities, fixed income and sustainable and responsible investing (SRI). Alliance Trust is led by CEO Katherine Garrett-Cox who took up the post on 29 August 2008.[12]
References
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