Abrdn Share Discussion Threads

[chinese investor] 02/12/2021 09:18

64p to 300p !

[spud] 02/12/2021 08:36

It's good use of existing unused cash, buying a profitable company.Makes a refreshing change from the ancient default unimaginative buyback that most companies persevere with.spud

[suetballs] 02/12/2021 08:25

I'm pleased with the ii deal.
The days of giving a payout to your customers are generally long gone.
Suet

[montyhedge] 02/12/2021 08:12

Shareprice will come off.

[spud] 01/12/2021 22:21

Brilliant news for the Company!

Abrdn on verge of finalising £1.5bn Interactive Investor takeover


Abrdn was on Wednesday applying the finishing touches to a £1.5bn takeover of Interactive Investor (II), the DIY stock-picking platform, in a move that will transform the FTSE 100 asset manager’s personal investing capabilities.

Sky News has learnt that abrdn, headed by Stephen Bird, could announce the acquisition of II as early as Thursday after weeks of exclusive negotiations.
The deal, which will not require abrdn to raise fresh equity, will see it become the owner of a major rival to the likes of London-listed Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell.

It will also end II's ambitions of joining its rivals as a separately quoted company, following months of preparations for a 2022 stock market flotation.

Sources said that II would operate independently within abrdn and would continue to be run by Richard Wilson.

Sky News revealed that the two companies were in talks about a deal last month.
II has more than 400,000 personal investing clients, positioning it behind only Hargreaves Lansdown by customer numbers in the UK market.

It has made a string of acquisitions of its own, such as the stock-dealing platform The Share Centre, and has about £57bn in assets under administration.

The swoop by abrdn will take it further into direct-to-consumer investing, and will represent a bold move by Mr Bird, a former Citi executive who joined the asset management group in July 2020.

Investors already appear to have given the deal their backing, sending shares in abrdn sharply higher when the talks were confirmed in November.

That was a significant boost to Mr Bird, who inherited a company scarred by investors' reaction to the £11bn merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017, with the combined group having lost close to half its value since that tie-up was announced.

Since then, the co-chief executives of Standard Life Aberdeen - now renamed abrdn - have both stepped down.

Martin Gilbert, the Aberdeen Asset Management founder, has emerged in a large number of City posts, including at the helm of AssetCo, which he has begun using as a consolidation vehicle in the asset management sector, while Keith Skeoch has held a number of regulatory and trade association roles.

For Mr Bird, however, the transaction comes at an opportune time.

Abrdn has total surplus regulatory capital of about £2bn, having sold another chunk of its stake in India's HDFC in late September, meaning financing the takeover of II has not been problematic.

The deal also comes sufficiently early in his tenure as CEO to make a potentially significant difference to the long-term performance of abrdn, which has been hit by large fund outflows during most of the period since it was formed in its current guise.

Under Mr Bird, the tide has begun to turn, with fee-based revenues and adjusted operating profits recently showing their fastest growth since the company was created in its current form.

He has said he wants to turn abrdn into a simplified and more focused investment management group with stronger digital capabilities for personal and institutional clients.

Since taking the helm of the company, which now 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.

Its rebranding in August - which provoked some derision in the City - would, Mr Bird, said, provide "clarity" and leave it "better-positioned to have impact at scale as a global business".

The takeover of II will deliver a big payday for JC Flowers, II's biggest shareholder and other investors which include a group of venture capital funds.
JC Flowers engineered the combination of II and TD Direct in 2017, since when the business has grown into an industry powerhouse.

JP Morgan is advising abrdn on the talks, while II and its shareholders are being advised by Fenchurch Advisory Partners and UBS.

Abrdn, II and JC Flowers declined to comment.

spud

[wllmherk] 30/11/2021 20:47

Must admit I'm tempted here at these prices but no free cash at present. Also, I'm already loaded up with DLG, MNG and PHNX so probably need to diversify into a sector other than financials.

wllm :)

[jubberjim] 30/11/2021 14:28

Spud

Just think in this market investors will be very cautious
Hence volumes and trades will be low so that s why I advocate caution
You know me and dividends and the fact that they have already announced and cut the dividend by a third is ok with me is reflected in price but their is a danger they might overpay in a very subdued market
That is my fear dividend is very reasonable but nagging doubts remain for me ?

[cwa1] 30/11/2021 13:28

More luck to longs than shorts though ;-)

[partenope] 30/11/2021 13:15

well played CWA, probably wise to keep a little in reserve also. i went with RDSB in the end, but I am still interested in ABDN and if I can make a little profit on Shell then I may well be back here. my thoughts are that the dividend (in ABDN) is safe for a couple of years as there is plenty of cash available from the recent disposal of non-core assets. I personally like the idea of buying II as I think it has good growth prospects and could further down the line be a means of also growing the divi. so yeah, 2.31 is for sure a good start point and i may well join you in the near future!

again, GLA to longs/shorts alike!

[montyhedge] 30/11/2021 12:06

I hope this lot don't get II, they have roughly 400,000 clients, me being one, I want a II ipo. They would give us priority.

[suetballs] 30/11/2021 11:42

Spud I'm with ii and think their charges are more than reasonable ( they've also got to make a living ) and for me when you take into account what you can win and lose on shares they are irrelevant.
Suet

[cwa1] 30/11/2021 11:40

Well, FWIW, I left an order this morning at 231p(no particular reason for this figure)) and I've come back from a very wet dog walk to find I'm the proud? owner of some ABDN again at just under 231. Only went for a half holding as I feel there may be worse to come-but at least I've made a start even if I might be starting to regret it already ;-)

Good fortune to all holders

[spud] 30/11/2021 11:33

Richard Wilson, ii Chief Executive, says:

"I am pleased to report another period of strong and consistent growth against a backdrop of uncertainty and a constantly-changing environment.

Revenue for the period was £76.1m, an increase of 19% on the same period last year (11% excluding revenue generated within The Share Centre). The main drivers of revenue growth were strong market activity, bringing increased transactional revenue and higher fee income from our organic client growth, and further M&A activity. Offsetting this was interest revenue which continued to fall due to the impact of lower rates.

Market activity over the period remained at elevated levels, particularly in the first quarter. Trading volumes began to reduce towards the end of the period and, while it is difficult to predict how volumes will react to the gradual lifting of Covid restrictions and the return to normality, our current expectation is that volumes will remain significantly above pre-Covid levels. The trend for our customers to increasingly invest in overseas markets has continued, with trades in international markets increasing 98% from the previous year.

We welcomed 31,667 new clients onto the ii platform, an increase of 33% on the previous year, while retaining high levels of assets per customer, at an average of £135,000. In addition, we have experienced very strong growth in ISA and SIPP accounts. New ISA accounts grew 51% from the previous year and new SIPP accounts grew 72%. Our increasing brand awareness is enabling more and more clients to realise the savings they can make by choosing ii as their investment platform.

As well as driving increased client acquisition, our fixed-fee pricing encourages asset consolidation from our existing customers. These factors combined have driven net new business for the period to £3.6bn, an increase of 56% on the previous year. Similarly net new business in our ISA and SIPP products have been the main growth drivers, delivering growth of 76% and 119%, respectively.

We have supplemented our strong organic growth with further M&A activities. In February we migrated 61,000 customers from The Share Centre onto the ii platform following the acquisition of Share Plc last year. These customers are enjoying the additional features our platform offers, particularly in international trading where we have seen a strong uptake in our offering. In March we announced the acquisition of the EQi D2C business from Equiniti Group Plc and 59,000 customers were successfully migrated to the ii platform in June.

In a period of continued difficult conditions and extremes of market volatility, during which we executed two major acquisitions, I am particularly proud that our Trustpilot score has remained at 4.7, the highest among our peers.

We end the period with over 400k customers and assets under administration approaching £55bn. With a strong pipeline of future developments which include an improved mobile app for Android and iOS (currently in beta), a new-look website for customers, a referral programme, and ii Family, we are well positioned to further improve the service to our customers and deliver increasing value for our shareholders.”

spud

[spud] 30/11/2021 11:32

Jim.

I'm with II and am aware of their charges.

You currently pay a monthly sub of £9.99 PM as a minimum with one free trade (£7.99) per month. Times that by 400,000 customers......

If you are a high volume trader you can opt for a higher sub but lower dealing costs.

I'd say the business model is pretty robust regardless of Market pessimism.

spud

[jubberjim] 30/11/2021 11:05

Spud

Apologies have not been on here since SLA days

But looking at this idea to buy A share dealing service is to me an uncommonly bad idea

With the market in a soporific tupor volumes are down and I cannot see any benefit to the shareholders if this goes ahead

I was looking but that particular piece of news by as put me right off

I do not see the situation improving in the near future as lots more nervous investors like me than gung no types
Will look but avoid for time being

[suetballs] 30/11/2021 10:03

yep lots of bad news out there but if you have cash lots of bargains too.
And there will probably be better value the closer we get to Xmas.
Uncertainty is great for brokers too.
Suet

[partenope] 30/11/2021 09:18

plenty of others to look at today as well. tempted to go for shell or bp or rio as i have plenty of financial stocks of this type (lgen, av, phnx) so might end up being overexposed if i buy here as well. not ruled it out yet and the div is v tempting. going to get my jab soon so will check back later. GLA everyone :)

[cwa1] 30/11/2021 08:02

Haven't quite decided yet but I AM tempted and will be watching closely today to see how things develop. Might well take a few...

[spud] 29/11/2021 16:35

That'll do it!spud

[nick rubens] 29/11/2021 16:22

Today MORGAN STANLEY CUTS ABRDN TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' (EQUAL-WEIGHT)

[spud] 29/11/2021 15:35

Big sell order being worked imo. spud

[spcecks] 29/11/2021 12:19

I added a few this morning.

[cwa1] 29/11/2021 12:03

Anyone mildly tempted at these levels? Or is everybody just steering clear for now?