(Alliance News) - Alliance Trust PLC on Thursday said it had successfully returned value to its shareholders over 2023, but cautioned against complacency in the near-future.
Alliance is a Dundee, Scotland-based investment trust.
For 2023, the company's net asset value total return was 21.6%. This compares to an NAV loss of 7.1% in 2022, and tracks ahead of its MSCI All Country World Index benchmark, which returned 15.3%.
NAV per share stood at 1,175.1p at December 31, up 19% from 989.5p at the end of 2022.
Alliance attributes its peer-relative success to its "diversified but highly selective" stock picking approach, "rather than the result of any significant style, country, or sector biases".
As at December 31, the company's share price was 1,112.00 pence each, representing a total shareholder return of 20% over the year.
Alliance's shares are currently changing hands at 1,200.76 pence each, up 0.6% in London on Thursday afternoon.
Alliance declared a fourth interim dividend of 6.34p per share, up 5.7% from 2022's final dividend of 6.00p. This brings the total payout for to 25.2p for the year, ahead of 24.0p a year prior, and marks the 57th consecutive year of dividend increases for Alliance.
Looking ahead, Alliance said that inflation appears to have reached its peak, but warned that central bank cuts to interest rates "may not arrive as soon or as quickly as the market expected towards the end of last year".
"A soft landing, where economic growth shifts down to a lower gear but avoids global recession, is possible, but is not guaranteed", it added.
Chair Dean Buckley said: "The board is currently monitoring a number of emerging risks: Geopolitical tension is an ever-increasing emerging risk for the company due to ongoing conflicts across the world and the affect that they may have on global markets. Numerous governmental elections will also be taking place across the world in 2024, with particular focus on the US, UK and Indian elections...Our investment manager has advised that the market outlook for 2024 remains highly uncertain."
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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Alliance Trust (ATST)