Welcome to the autumn edition of Investor, the magazine for our shareholders.

As this magazine goes to press, US authorities are considering unprecedented support for the country’s financial sector, which is still suffering from the devastating effects of the credit crunch. These are unsettling times for investors everywhere and we are watching events carefully. During our 120-year history, we have weathered similar crises and we will continue to take a long-term view of markets, adopting defensive positions in asset allocation and stock selection where appropriate for the benefit of our shareholders.

Our new Chief Executive Katherine Garrett-Cox, who took over at the end of August, faces very challenging times. She explains in this edition what her ambitions are for your company and her resolve to focus everything we do around our long-standing expertise in equity investment. I would like to welcome Katherine to her new role.

We have just announced our interim results and we include a summary of performance in the first half of this financial year in this magazine. To save paper and postage costs we are not sending the full interim report to all shareholders as a matter of course, but if you would like to see the full report you can read it on our website at www.alliancetrust.co.uk/investor, or email investor@alliancetrust.co.uk or write to our Company Secretary if you would like a paper copy.

Elsewhere in this magazine we bring you news about your Company. Edward Troughton of our new UK asset management subsidiary outlines the reasons behind its launch and the benefits we expect it to bring. Two of our global analysts, Tim Gibbens on financials, and Angus McPhail on commodities, present their long-term view of two of the most influential sectors of recent months which have dominated the news: banks and oil. We explain the shareholder benefits that Alliance Trust Savings, our financial services subsidiary, is offering shareholders who hold their shares on its platform. There is also an update on the expansion of investment choice on that platform by the addition of funds.

We are holding further Investor Forums in coming months. These are open to all shareholders and you will find details on the back page of how to attend. I hope you will join us at one of these events so you can find out more about your Company’s progress.

Lesley Knox
Chairman, Alliance Trust PLC

Download Alliance Trust Investor Magazine, Autumn 2008

PDF format, 1.2MB, 24Pages.

Interim Results
Interview with
new Chief Executive
Katherine Garrett-Cox

Visit Alliance Trust Website

About Alliance Trust:

Alliance Trust is an international investment and financial services group, specialising in fund management, pensions and investment services. Alliance Trust PLC is currently the UK’s largest generalist investment trust company investing on a global basis across all major markets and sectors. We manage over £2.8 billion of assets (as at 31/01/07). Established in 1888, our historic headquarters is in Dundee with other offices in Edinburgh, London and Hong Kong.

Our objective at Alliance Trust PLC is to be a core investment for investors seeking a long term store of increasing value. We allocate our capital across a broad range of asset classes to enhance and preserve total returns and to provide shareholders with real growth over the medium to long term. We can use investment techniques such as gearing and hedging to enhance returns and reduce risks within our portfolio. We do not benchmark against any equity index as we retain the freedom to move not only between equity markets as opportunities arise but also to invest in other asset classes.

In 2006, we launched a new Asia-Pacific Asset Management subsidiary in Hong Kong. This offers investors the potential for participation in the exciting growth prospects of the Asia-Pacific region. Our experience and knowledge of the region developed within Alliance Trust PLC is enhanced by our local presence there.

Our other financial services subsidiary company, Alliance Trust Savings Limited, offers a range of competitive investment dealing products including share dealing Investment Plans, ISAs and SIPPs. Our customers can choose from over 3000 UK securities and our Full SIPP allows any investment permitted by the regulations including commercial property and unquoted equities. We have recently enhanced our service with the launch of an Online Dealing Service which provides flexibility, freedom and more choice for our customers.

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