ARTEMIS ALPHA TRUST PLC (ATS)

ARTEMIS ALPHA TRUST PLC (ATS)

Blog posts

Alliance Trust Savings to Change Charges

Alliance Trust Savings, one of the more popular investment "platforms" for retail investors, is to raise some of its charges, while reducing others, effective from the 1st February 2017. On-line trading charges will reduce to as low as £7.99 per transaction (if you qualify for the maximum loyalty discount - or £9.99 for no loyalty discount). But postal or telephone trading charges will be increased substantially, although these will be offset by the introduction of a loyalty discount on those also so ...
Post Date: December 22, 2016 Read more

Problems at Alliance Trust Savings

An article in FTAdviser has reported a number of problems with the new technology platform being implemented by Alliance Trust Savings (ATS). They decided a couple of years ago to upgrade to a new software platform so as to improve the service to clients, but there have clearly been some major teething troubles. For example, one IFA said that the first and only time she put a client on the new platform had been a disaster. She said "the platform had been ...
Post Date: December 7, 2016 Read more

Alliance Trust AGM

I was unfortunately unable to travel to the Alliance Trust AGM in Dundee as I hoped to do because of a medical problem, but here is a report from Jim Cook: Alliance Trust 2016 AGM, Dundee, 6th May 2016 The AGM was well attended with around 300 shareholders represented. In his opening remarks Lord Smith explained why he had accepted the Chairmanship. Firstly, the company faced challenges.  Secondly, what needed to be done had been identified.  Thirdly, a plan was in place.  Lord ...
Post Date: May 8, 2016 Read more

Company Results – Alliance Trust, LSE and Whitbread

This morning Alliance Trust announced their results for the year ending December 2015. This company has been the subject of a campaign by ShareSoc (see https://www.sharesoc.org/alliance.html ) and Elliott Advisors were also aggressive in demanding changes before Alliance's last Annual General Meeting but then committed to a truce for one year. Subsequently the Chairman Karin Forseke and Chief Executive Katherine Garrett-Cox have departed and the board has otherwise been restructured. This followed some years of underperformance which resulted in a wide ...
Post Date: March 4, 2016 Read more

Garrett-Cox leaves Alliance Trust

It was announced this morning that Katherine Garrett-Cox is to leave Alliance Trust. She had previously been demoted to be Chief Executive of its subsidiary, Alliance Trust Investments, but now she is departing altogether in one month’s time. Despite the eulogies in the announcement on her contribution to the Trust over the past nine years it seems unlikely that many shareholders will regret her departure. Those 9 years have not been great ones for the Trust in terms of investment performance, leading ...
Post Date: February 15, 2016 Read more