Shareholder action group set up to challenge Alliance Trust board

ShareSoc, the UK proxy group for individual shareholders, has launched an action group to represent the interests of unhappy Alliance Trust investors and urge the board to launch a strategic review.

Two weeks on from the trust's battle with Elliott Advisors, a statement from the action group said a number of investors remain concerned about the company's performance, costs and lack of focus. "Until a decade ago, Alliance Trust was a conservatively managed, low cost, investment trust which was focussed on its investment trust activities and performed satisfactorily relative to its benchmark and its peer group," the statement said. "Since then it has lost its focus, its performance has been unsatisfactory and its costs have escalated at an alarming rate." It follows a lengthy, p...