Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 1497X

Personal Assets Trust PLC

10 August 2009

Personal Assets Trust plc

For the Three Month Period from 1 May 2009 to 31 July 2009

Investment Objective

Personal Assets is an investment trust run expressly for private investors. Its capital structure is the simplest possible for an investment trust, consisting only of ordinary shares. Its investment objective is to protect and increase (in that order) the value of shareholders' funds over the long term and to earn as high a total return as is compatible with a risk equivalent to that of the FTSE All-Share Index. Since Personal Assets invests for the long term, the Board assesses performance not annually at the end of each accounting year but over rolling three-year periods.

We aim to pay as high, secure and sustainable a dividend as is compatible with maintaining our investment flexibility. We intend the present dividend rate to grow in real terms and it is our policy never to cut the dividend rate, so shareholders know that each half-yearly payment will at least equal the previous one.

The Board's policy is to ensure that the shares of Personal Assets always trade at close to NAV.

Performance Summary

	As at 31 July 2009	As at 30 April 2009	Movement

Market capitalisation	£183.8m	£173.6m	5.9%
Shareholders' funds	£183.0m	£171.1m	7.0%
Effective liquidity (1)	23.5%	29.9%	-
Share price	£242.75	£233.00	4.2%
Net asset value per share	£241.72	£229.64	5.3%
Premium to NAV	0.4%	1.5%	-
FTSE All-Share Index	2,353.47	2,173.06	8.3%

(1) Includes holding in Gold Bullion Securities of 8.2% at 31 July 2009 (30 April 2009: 5.8%).

Period Review and Material Events

A review of the year ended 30 April 2009 and of material events that took place during that period will be found in Personal Assets Trust plc's Annual Report. This also contains a review of the principal risks and uncertainties for our financial year to 30 April 2010.

Equity exposure remained constant at about 70%-75%. We remain sceptical that the rally in equities will be maintained in the medium term. It is based, unsoundly, on market liquidity rather than on earnings. This is the reason for our reluctance to be full invested. Turnover in the portfolio is low. During the quarter we increased the investment in gold bullion and added new holdings of Berkshire Hathaway and Diageo.

We have avoided financials stocks such as banks and life companies because of the opacity of their structure and exposure to bad debts/illiquid unmarketable securities. Berkshire Hathaway has not performed well this year. Strong balance sheets are not the investment fashion for now. Pricing power in insurance and reinsurance remains very strong, however. Berkshire's other direct corporate investments are valued conservatively at book value. It seems we are paying little if any premium for Mr Buffett's investment abilities. We know investors go through periods of according different degrees of goodwill to Berkshire. At present we have a good margin of safety, with some healthy upside on a two to three year view.

During the three months ended 31 July 2009 the Company re-issued 5,645 Ordinary Shares from treasury and issued 6,133 Ordinary shares from its various block listings for a total consideration of £2.8 million, representing 1.6% of the Ordinary Shares in issue at the beginning of the period.

Mr Robert White, Chairman of the Company for the past 15 years, stepped down from the Board at the conclusion of the Company's Annual General Meeting ('AGM') held on 16 July 2009. Mr Hamish Buchan has succeeded Mr White as Chairman. The Board also appointed Messrs Stuart Paul and Frank Rushbrook as non-executive Directors of the Company as the conclusion of the AGM held on 16 July 2009.

Top Ten Holdings as at 31 July 2009

Company	Percentage of shareholders' funds	Percentage of equity exposure

Alliance Trust	7.7	10.1
Royal Dutch Shell 'B'	6.6	8.6
BP	6.5	8.5
Nestle	4.7	6.1
GlaxoSmithKline	4.1	5.4
British American Tobacco	3.6	4.7
Diageo	3.0	3.9
Philip Morris International	2.8	3.7
Berkshire Hathaway 'A'	2.6	3.4
Tesco	2.5	3.3
Other equities (8)	9.1	11.9
FTSE 100 Futures	23.3	30.5
Total		100.0

Geographical Analysis as at 31 July 2009

Country	Percentage of shareholders' funds

UK equity exposure (including futures)	63.0
US equities	8.8
European equities	4.7
Liquidity	23.5
Total	100.0

Sector Distribution as at 31 July 2009

Sector	Percentage of total assets	Percentage of FTSE All-Share

Oil & Gas	17.4	18.4
Basic Materials	4.2	10.5
Industrials	2.0	6.6
Consumer Goods	17.0	12.0
Health Care	7.8	8.4
Consumer Services	4.8	9.8
Telecom	1.4	6.0
Utilities	4.5	3.5
Financials	4.8	20.7
Investment Trusts	11.2	2.7
Technology	1.4	1.4
Liquidity	23.5	-

Total	100.0	100.0