Alliance Trust boss Katherine Garrett-Cox warns FTSE faces 'significant roadblocks'

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

The boss of Alliance Trust, which manages £2.4 billion 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. “It’s clear that 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% to 9.63p as it reported total shareholder returns of 12.4% last year. Ms Garrett-Cox said she was confident she had seen off the shareholder revolts that have dogged recent AGMs.