Alliance Trust Savings returns to profit as new era dawns

The results come as ATS sets out on its new investment strategy having appointed Willis Towers Watson following the sale of its in house investment management arm to Liontrust Asset Management last year, which is expected to bring over £5 million to the firm.

WTW, which will receive the company’s equity portfolio by the end of April, will adopt a multi-manager approach, with five North American and three London-based managers to run the portfolio.

The firm’s full year results for last year revealed that total shareholder return for the period was 26.4 per cent, mostly helped by a narrowing discount, compared to returns of 10.7 per cent in 2015.

Ordinary dividend for 2016 is 12.774p, which is an increase of 16.4 per cent compared with 2015 when dividend was 10.97p, the firm said.

However, ATS also reported underperformance versus the benchmark in 2016 as it reveals the new investment strategy.

The discount to NAV narrowed to 4.4 per cent, down from with 8.1 per cent at the end of 2015 thanks to an “active programme” of share buybacks from the firm, but net asset value return of 21.5 per cent for 2016, compared to 29.4 per cent return from its benchmark MSCI All Country World Index.

Assets under administration, meanwhile, rose by 60 per cent over the course of last year to £13.6 billion, with a 31 per cent increase in the number of accounts.