Aberdeen Asset Management reports a 2% rise in annual profits today and its chief executive, Martin Gilbert, says outflows from Asia and emerging market products are reducing.
The firm’s underlying profit before tax increased to £490.3 million (€615.7 million) during the year to September, up from £482.7 million in the previous year.
Net revenue also increased, up by 4% to £1.12 billion.
Aberdeen’s assets under management increased by 62% to £324.4 billion following the acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) from Lloyds Banking Group in March, which brought in £134.9 billion of new assets.
There was a 4% decrease in underlying diluted earnings per share to 31.1p.
In its annual results for the year to 30 September, Aberdeen reports an improvement in equity performance, following a difficult period in 2013, and says fixed income has continued to deliver good results, with the majority of strategies ahead of their benchmarks over one, three and five year periods.
Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, says the firm’s performance this year has been “robust”, despite a challenging environment.
“The first half of the year was particularly demanding, as investor sentiment turned sharply against emerging market economies. Recently, however, we have seen those concerns abate and outflows from our Asian and emerging market funds have moderated,” he says.
He added that integrating SWIP into the business is already making a positive impact and has made the firm more receptive to changes in investor sentiment.
Roger Cornick, chairman of Aberdeen, says the SWIP transaction is providing new investment opportunities for Aberdeen’s global distribution team and notes that the business has made progress at improving flows into areas such as emerging market debt and property.
He adds that the first nine months of the year have been difficult for new business flows, with the Aberdeen element of the business experiencing net outflows of £16 billion for the year, compared to only £2.5 billion in 2013.
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