Alliance Trust Plc has said that 2008 would continue to be a challenge as the credit squeeze continued to retard global growth.

The British investment trust said that for the full year ended 31 January its net asset value had fallen 4.6 per cent, the year also saw the FTSE All-Shares index drop 6.6 per cent.

The company said that it had increased its full year dividend by 4.3 per cent to 7.9 pence per share.

Ftse