Alliance Trust platform: a sorry tale

I cannot be alone in my disappointment that Alliance Trust may soon be throwing in the towel on its share dealing platform Alliance Trust Savings after “preliminary expressions of interest” from potential buyers. Well, disappointment up to a point. While I found the platform of the Dundee investment trust giant comprehensive, economic to use and well backed by research, it follows year upon year of setbacks, problems and losses – and promises from previous managements that ATS was about to turn the corner and yield worthwhile returns.

True, it has turned a £1.5m loss last year into a tiny profit of £23,000. But customer numbers have fallen from 113,317 to 110,402. And for the trust’s shareholders – and its management – it would mark a further retreat from indigenous management and control, the investment management process having been outsourced to Willis Towers Watson, which oversees a set of external fund managers.

Possible bidders include Scottish Widows. Talks are still at an early stage and “there can be no certainty”, says the company, “that the board of Alliance Trust will decide to sell ATS”. For the record, Alliance has held its fair value of ATS at £38m: a sad ending to a sorry tale.