Find out more about Alliance Trust’s performance, with the help of market commentary from our Investment Manager.
Over April, the Trust’s total shareholder return, NAV total return and equity portfolio return were 4.1%, 2.8% and 2.7% respectively. Over the same period, the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) returned 3.0%.
First quarter earnings are now being reported and have continued to be strong, with a significant proportion of companies exceeding analyst expectations (of those that have reported so far). However, despite the strong earnings momentum, geopolitical risks continue to dominate headlines and drive volatility as fears of a US-China trade war and escalating tensions between the US and Russia over the situation in Syria added to uncertainty. Greater volatility will likely result in dispersion between company valuations, which is an excellent environment for presenting opportunities for long term active stock selectors like those in the portfolio.
Over the course of the month, our underlying portfolio managers have reduced their positions in Tencent and Airbus, both stocks having previously been in the top 20 holdings. New entrants to the top 20 were Aflac, Suncor Energy and EOG Resources, all as a result of additional stock purchases. Since 1 April 2017*, the equity portfolio has returned 8.5%, representing outperformance of 2.6% relative to the MSCI ACWI.
* Date Willis Towers Watson assumed responsibility for management of the portfolio
For more market insight, read our view from the Investment Manager.
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Alliance Trust has been awarded the AIC’s Dividend Hero award and is proud to have increased its dividend every year for over 50 years. This award is made by the Association of Investment Companies to the small number of investment companies who have increased their dividends each year for 20 years or more. For more information and a full list of qualifying companies, you can visit the AIC website.
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