Standard Life Aberdeen Share Discussion Threads

[geordieduke2] 14/3/2022 15:41

Is there like a private shareholders group. One that might collectively have a combined voice to raise issues they might be concerned about?

[spud] 12/11/2021 11:57

Advised platforms inflows jump nearly 50% YoY

By Jean-Baptiste Andrieux 11th November 2021 12:02 pm



Retail platforms have seen growth in both gross and net flows compared to last year according to the Lang Cat’s latest quarterly Platform Market Scorecard.

Total advised gross flows have jumped by nearly 50% year-on-year.

Net flows saw an increase of almost 75% compared to the previous year.

Assets under administration (AUA) have also been on the rise with a 22.69% for advised channel AUA. The total market saw a 21.91% growth.

Yet, both gross and net flows fell from Q2 to Q3.

Total advised gross flows are down 13.71% quarter-on-quarter, whereas net flows reported decrease of 20.78% in the same period.

In contrast, advised assets under administration (AUA) saw an increase of 2.99% on Q2 and finished the quarter at £562bn. Total market AUA ended the quarter close to the £700bn mark.

The Lang Cat consulting director Steven Nelson said: “The decreases we see in net and gross flows quarter-on-quarter shouldn’t be immediate cause for concern, chiefly being attributed to a combination of seasonality and no doubt some of the latent fallout of record flows towards the beginning of this year.

“Year-on-year flows are a better barometer for the strength of the sector and performance here has been particularly robust, which is no mean feat considering the backdrop of ongoing covid uncertainty. This is indeed a healthy sector.”

Four platforms report total net new business of at least a £1bn. The Lang Cat added that a handful were not far behind, floating around the £800m mark.

Abrdn (SL Wrap/Elevate) topped the ranking for AUA and gross inflow with respectively £73.86bn and £2.23bn for Q3 2021.

It was followed in both categories by Quilter and Transact.

True Potential and Aviva platform were leading in terms of net inflow with £1.33bn in the third quarter of 2021.

Abrdn has recently acquired investing insights platform Finimize, which has over 1 million subscribers to its daily newsletter and around 40,000 premium subscribers.

spud

[spud] 09/11/2021 15:49

Virgin Money & Abrdn platform to launch next summer



spud

[rathlindri] 09/11/2021 15:46

So much for market sentiment

[davebowler] 09/11/2021 09:08

This is just an attempt by Aberdn to regain its lost vowels.....htTPs://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/news/abrdn-lines-up-1-5bn-interactive-investor-deal/a1578836?re=90999&ea=252901&utm_source=

[rathlindri] 08/11/2021 13:42

There was a substantial article about this in the Business Section of yesterday's Sunday Times

[spud] 08/11/2021 08:59

The Market certainly seems to like the news. I'm just relieved that there's some imagination here as opposed to doing the normal company buyback.spud

[spud] 08/11/2021 08:39

TOP NEWS: abrdn confirms talks to acquire interactive investorSource: Alliance Newsmanager abrdn PLC confirmed Monday it is in discussions with JC Flowers & Co for a potential acquisition of online retail investment platform.spud

[spud] 08/11/2021 08:36

I've been with them since before the Stocktrade days. The service has got progressively worse as they have absorbed additional customers.spud

[linton5] 08/11/2021 08:17

Interactive where gonna go into stock exchange that’s that dead now loyal members bashed again

[linton5] 08/11/2021 08:00

Jeeez not again I started with Stocktrade bought over by Allied trust then bought over by interactive investor now this lol.

[spud] 07/11/2021 19:25

One would think so. spud

[pdosullivan] 07/11/2021 19:16

The synergies from a deal would likely be significant.

[spud] 07/11/2021 18:51

Not sure how profitable II are so as to get a handle on the book to potential buy price multiple. If it's sub 8x we could see a positive reaction to the share price imo. spud

[peterbill] 07/11/2021 14:55

Abrdn is in talks to take over the online stockbroker Interactive Investor in a move that will give the FTSE 100 fund manager greater direct access to consumers and expand its digital capabilities. - Sunday Times

[spud] 28/10/2021 15:33

Abrdn’s Bird swoops on Finimize as industry’s digital shift accelerates
The £532bn asset management group is close to acquiring Finimize, a subscription-based investment information platform, Sky News learns.



Mark Kleinman - City editor
City editor @MarkKleinmanSky
Thursday 28 October 2021 10:08, UK
Stephen Bird, chief executive, Standard Life Aberdeen/Abrdn Pic: Standard Life Aberdeen

Attempts by one of Britain's biggest asset managers to exploit the industry's accelerating digital revolution will be underlined in the coming days when it swoops to buy Finimize, an investment information platform.

Sky News has learnt that Abrdn, run by Stephen Bird, is in advanced talks to buy Finimize, which charges tens of thousands of people a £60 annual subscription for investment tips.

One source said a deal could be signed and announced as early as this week.

The price that Abrdn had agreed to pay for Finimize was unclear on Wednesday evening.

For Mr Bird, the acquisition will reinforce his ambition of building a simplified and more focused investment management group with far stronger digital capabilities for personal and institutional clients.

Since taking the helm of the company, which manages more than £530bn for clients, he has jettisoned businesses including Parmenion, a platform servicing independent financial advisers, and a real estate division in the Nordics.

He said in August that rebranding the company from its previous name, Standard Life Aberdeen, would provide "clarity" and leave it "better-positioned to have impact at scale as a global business".

Investors were left underwhelmed by the 2017 merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management, with the combined group having lost close to half its value since the £11bn tie-up was announced earlier that year.

Abrdn's purchase of Finimize is expected to land a handsome windfall for Max Roufagha, the target's chief executive.

In total, its daily newsletter has more than 1m subscribers, and one source said it would continue to operate independently under Abrdn's ownership.

On Wednesday, Abrdn shares closed at 258.9p, giving the company a market capitalisation of just under £5.7bn.

Abrdn, which is being advised by Goldman Sachs on the deal, declined to comment.

spud

[mcunliffe1] 21/10/2021 12:37

Christopher Ruane states early on in his appraisal that the rebranding was silly. Then, towards the end he tries to convince us that strong brands including Standard Life is an attraction.

This bodes better for Phoenix than Abrdn as it's Phoenix who bought the S.L. brand name.

Odd.

[spud] 21/10/2021 11:56

Should I buy the falling Abrdn share price?
Christopher Ruane | Wednesday, 20th October, 2021 | More on: ABDN


Over the past year, the stock market has performed well, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading companies growing by 22%. But financial services company Abrdn (LSE: ABDN) has increased by only 4% during the same period. Lately it’s been falling, losing more than a fifth of its value since March. Here I look at why the Abrdn share price is falling and whether I ought to add it to my portfolio.

Abrdn’s business performance

Abrdn is an investment company and so to some extent its fortunes are tied to the health of the financial services sector. But many financial services companies have outperformed Abrdn over the past year. Jupiter, for example, is up 7% while Schroders has added 25%.

Abrdn’s silly rebrand (from Standard Life Aberdeen, in July) has received a lukewarm reaction. But that alone doesn’t explain the lacklustre share price performance. I also don’t think its most recent financial performance has been bad. In fact I would say the business has been performing well. In its half-year results, the company reported a 7% growth in fee-based revenue. It also has a much improved profit picture. For example, the adjusted operating profit jumped 52% compared to the equivalent period last year.

Admittedly assets under management fell slightly. But overall I think the results show a company that is moving in the right direction. It maintained its outlook for the full year, and expects to cut its cost-to-income ratio further.

Dividends and the Abrdn share price

But not everything is rosy. The interim dividend was maintained. But the total dividend been “rebased”;. Last year, the final dividend almost halved. So while the latest interim dividend has not fallen – or increased, for that matter – the company indicated that it plans to pay out a total annual dividend of 14.6p. In other words, the final dividend will remain at last year’s reduced level indefinitely.

That might not go on for ever. The company has said that it intends to start lifting the dividend again once coverage reaches 1.5 times adjusted capital generation. In the half-year period most recently finished, the coverage level on this basis was 1.14. While that is comforting as it means that the dividend is covered, it is also some distance from the target. If coverage continues around the current level, it may be some years before Abrdn even considers increasing its dividend again. Dividends are never guaranteed, so the dividend could fall further if the business runs into hard times. For example, if the decline in assets under management accelerates, that could hurt both fee revenue and profits.

Why I like the Abrdn share price

However, it’s also worth noting that even after last year’s cut, the current Abrdn dividend yield is 5.7%. That’s lower than some sectoral peers such as Legal & General and M&G – but it’s still well above the average yield for a FTSE 100 member such as Abrdn.

As well as the yield, the company has attractions to me including a well-established customer base and strong brands including Standard Life. If the economy contracts, customers could invest less and Abrdn’s profits may fall. But, even weighing the risks, I think the current Abrdn share price offers a buying opportunity for me. I would consider adding it to my portfolio.

spud

[mcunliffe1] 14/10/2021 15:50

Thanks Spud.

I like this comment: The people he had spoken to “fully embraced it”, he said.

The people Bird speaks to are probably either working for him, married to him or owed money from him. They're unlikely to say abrdn is cmplt bllcks.

[spud] 05/10/2021 11:18

Is Abrdn one of the best dividend stocks to buy?
Royston Wild | Monday, 4th October, 2021 | More on: ABDN



The September stock market crash took few prisoners and the Abrdn (LSE: ABDN) share price slumped 6% over the course of the month. It even dropped to its cheapest since November 2020 at one point.

At 250p per share, the FTSE 100 firm’s now up just 4% on a 12-month basis. Does recent weakness represent a terrific dip buying opportunity for long-term investors like me? And is Abrdn one of the best dividend stocks for me to buy in particular?

Well Abrdn certainly packs plenty of punch when it comes to dividend yields. City analysts think the asset manager will match 2020’s total annual payout of 14.6p per share in both 2021 and 2022. This results in a yield of 5.8%, one which smashes the broader FTSE 100 average of 3.5%.

Restructuring progress

Of course, there’s more than just yield to think about when considering which are the best income stocks to buy. Firstly, there’s a company’s profits outlook to think about. And there’s plenty going on on this front at Abrdn.

The business was created from the 2017 merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management. And it’s embarked on an aggressive programme of asset shedding to streamline its operations and focus more effectively on the asset management sector alone. This includes the sale of its Standard Life brands to Phoenix in February and divestment of its Parmenion private equity brand.

Abrdn also hopes the sale of non-core assets will bolster its long-term programme of cost reduction to give earnings an extra bump. The business reported a cost-to-income ratio of 79% between January and June, down 6% year-on-year. It hopes to pull the ratio to 70% by the end of 2023.

Is Abrdn a risk too far?

That being said, there are several reasons I think Abrdn might not be one of the best dividend stocks to buy. Firstly, that predicted 14.6p per share dividend for this year isn’t built on particularly strong foundations.

In fact, those projected payouts are higher than analysts think earnings will come in at for both years. And Abrdn doesn’t have the financial clout of some of its rivals like Legal & General to paper over these cracks and meet those dividend projections.

City analysts expect earnings at Abrdn to fall 88% in 2021 before rebounding 8% next year. But the level of fund outflows, while moderating more recently, remain substantial enough to cause me worry. Outflows clocked in at £5.6bn in the first half, suggesting investor confidence in the asset manager is still wafer-thin following the loss of a major contract with Lloyds a few years back.

The fact that Abrdn operates in a hugely-competitive marketplace isn’t helping its cause either. And I think its recent decision to rebrand could backfire spectacularly. By ditching the Standard Life moniker, the company’s thrown away a brand that’s been trusted by customers since the early 1800s. This is particularly risky for businesses that exists to protect people’s money.

All things considered I think there are better dividend stocks for me to buy right now.

spud