Alliance Witan (ALW) H2 2025 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Net Asset Value (NAV) total return was 4.7% and share price total return was 5.4% for 2025, trailing the MSCI ACWI benchmark's 13.9% return in sterling terms.

• Dividend increased for the 59th consecutive year, up 6.1% to 28.32p per share.

• The company continued active discount management, narrowing the share price discount to NAV to 4.1%.

• Board remains confident in the long-term multi-manager approach and is actively engaging with the investment manager to improve performance.

Financial highlights

• Net assets at year-end were £5.1bn, down from £5.2bn in 2024.

• NAV per share rose to 1,337.2p from 1,304.9p year-over-year.

• Earnings per share (revenue) increased to 18.5p from 17.3p.

• Ongoing charges ratio decreased to 0.47% (0.59% excluding management fee waiver).

• Share buybacks totaled 17.8 million shares (4.7% of shares in issue), costing £223.6m.

Outlook and guidance

• The board expects continued market volatility in the short term due to geopolitical tensions and AI-related industry disruption.

• Long-term confidence in delivering real returns and a rising dividend remains, supported by scale, diversification, and active management.