Alliance Witan (ALW)

Alliance Witan (ALW) aims to provide investors with a one-stop shop for global equities through a multi-manager approach. The trust has been managed since 2017 by an investment committee at Willis Towers Watson, which seeks to identify best-in-class managers, ensuring that each follows a distinct investment philosophy, and tasking them with selecting up to 20 stocks that reflect their highest-conviction ideas. The allocation to the underlying managers is then weighted by the investment committee in a way that keeps the Portfolio’s exposure as close as possible to the MSCI ACWI in terms of countries, sectors, and investment factors, with stock selection expected to be the primary driver of potential outperformance.

Since late 2024, several stock pickers have been trimming their exposure to AI-related stocks, which has affected the trust’s relative Performance, as market returns have become increasingly concentrated in these names. Instead, these stock pickers have shifted towards companies in defensive sectors such as consumer staples, healthcare, and utilities, viewing them as attractively valued while offering reliable earnings growth and stable cash flows. As the portfolio’s beta has reduced as a result, the investment committee has lowered its allocation to low beta managers such as GQG Partners, Veritas, and Metropolis, while increasing exposure to managers focused on high-growth companies, such as Jennison Associates and Sands. The committee has also increased Gearing to nearly 6% in order to raise the portfolio’s sensitivity to market risk.

ALW is an AIC Dividend Hero and increased its Dividend for a 59th consecutive year in FY 2025. So far in the current financial year, the trust has paid the first of its four interim dividends, with ALW offering a historic yield of c. 2.2% at the time of writing. In addition, the board and Willis Towers Watson have agreed to reduce the trust’s management fees. Effective 01/04/2026, the management fee is charged at 0.46% on ALW’s entire market capitalisation, replacing the previous tiered fee structure. A further reduction to 0.41% will take effect from the beginning of 2027.