Alliance Trust underperforms in first half, gives cautious outlook

23rd Jul 2015 10:58

(ShareCast News) - Alliance Trust said it underperformed a number of its peers during the first-half of the year, partly due to the sharp rise in bond yields, which affected the return.Its net asset value total (NAV) return was 1.4%, with its total shareholder return at 2.7%.It also continued to reduce the number of holdings in the equity portfolio to 68 positions from 88 a year earlier.The group's chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox said that, despite the results being disappointing, the group has improved its NAV return since then, which is now in line with the peer group sector average.Looking ahead, the company said the uncertain outlook for China and Greece could affect equity markets for "some time to come".Chairman Karin Forseke said the period was a "particularly challenging" one for the group."In the run up to our AGM a significant proportion of our shareholder base indicated that they sought change. The board has listened to these concerns and is actively engaged in addressing them," Forseke added.As a result, Alliance expects to announce the changes in the Autumn.Shares were up 0.21% to 494.86p on Thursday at 10:04.