Market rallies make us nervous, fund manager admits

Katherine Garrett-Cox warned that the FTSE 100 faces "significant roadblocks" over the next few months as her company posted its strongest start to a year for two decades.

The chief executive of Alliance Trust, which manages £2.4bn for investors, said headwinds threatened to throw the market off course despite its impressive start to the year.

"I think we all get a bit nervous when the markets rally," she said. "The issues that have dogged the markets and the economic data over the last three to four years have not gone away; European governments have not fully resolved the eurozone issue, nor has the US properly addressed the debt ceiling."

Alliance Trust raised its full-year dividend by 7 per cent to 9.63p as it reported total shareholder returns of 12.4 per cent last year.

Ms Garrett-Cox said she was confident she had seen off the shareholder revolts that have dogged recent AGMs.

"That is all very time consuming," she added. "Things seem to have gone quiet, which can only be a good thing because it allows us to focus on investments at a time when company valuations are so attractive."