Standard Life Aberdeen Share Discussion Threads

[fionascott1234] 24/2/2020 18:26

Well that sorts out the dividend next month.

[mcunliffe1] 24/2/2020 16:46

I was about to ask why the nose-dive but a brief research indicates it is coronavirus related.

I'd see this as a prime buying opportunity as the virus will undoubtedly cease at some point in the future.

Looking for an upside the share buy-back will cancel more shares for the same bucks now the price has dropped. I presume the buy-back plan calls for an increase in purchases as the share price falls? Doesn't it?

[chinese investor] 24/2/2020 08:12

I'll be buying soon !

[mcunliffe1] 14/2/2020 11:46

Hope he doesn't take his eye off the SLA job.
That said, will anyone notice?

[spud] 14/2/2020 11:38

Standard Life Aberdeen boss Keith Skeoch confirmed as new chair of Investment Association
Keith Skeoch is due to take up the role of chair on 1 May.



SCOTT REID
Email
Published: 09:21
Updated: 09:27
Friday 14 February 2020

Standard Life Aberdeen chief executive Keith Skeoch has been appointed as the new chairman of the Investment Association (IA), whose members manage some £7.7 trillion of assets.

Michelle Scrimgeour, chief executive of Legal & General Investment Management, and Patrick Thomson of JPMorgan Asset Management have been appointed deputy chairs, in a move to bolster the body’s “long-term strategic direction and industry leadership”.

Skeoch said: “The asset management industry plays key roles in allocating capital to businesses and infrastructure projects, engaging with companies on environmental, social and governance issues and importantly helping millions of people achieve their long-term financial objectives.

“I am honoured to be appointed chair of the board of the IA and look forward to working with [chief executive] Chris Cummings and his team to ensure the industry continues to focus on delivering for clients, investors and the UK economy.”

spud

[mcunliffe1] 13/2/2020 11:35

Volatile is good if you can trade put/call options in the stock. Not something I've done for some years but made decent returns on Rolls Royce, M&S and BAe 30+ years back.

[chinese investor] 13/2/2020 10:42

This is what I don't like about SLA - it's too volatile !

[harry rags] 13/2/2020 09:32

Don't worry it will not get there more likely 400p

[chinese investor] 13/2/2020 09:30

But Wait !

[chinese investor] 12/2/2020 15:12

I don't think so !

[spud] 12/2/2020 11:30

3 FTSE 100 shares with dividend appeal? Vodafone, Standard Life Aberdeen and United Utilities
February 12, 2020 Robert Stephens



The dividend prospects of FTSE 100 stocks Vodafone Group plc (LON:VOD) (VOD.L), Standard Life Aberdeen PLC (LON:SLA) (SLA.L) and United Utilities Group PLC (LON:UU) (UU.L) seem to have improved in recent months in my opinion.

United Utilities no longer faces an imminent threat of nationalisation under a Labour government. Sure, there are still regulatory challenges for the wider water and wastewater services industry to overcome, but I think that the stock’s yield of 4.2% could factor in many of the risks it faces.

I’m someone who struggles to get particularly excited about utility stocks. I think there are better opportunities for me elsewhere to obtain a decent yield and dividend growth. But, from an income investing perspective, I think that United Utilities could offer appeal at the moment owing to its robust dividend track record and its defensive business model.

Vodafone’s strategy seems to be resonating with investors. Its shares have generally traded higher in the past few months after a prolonged period of decline.

The company now plans to simplify its business, as well as engage in partnerships with other operators in key markets. This could improve its financial prospects to my mind, and may mean that its dividend could have a stronger outlook.

Following Vodafone’s dividend cut, it now yields around 5%. I still think that’s attractive, and its previous reduction in dividends may enable it to invest in its business to improve its overall financial prospects.

Standard Life Aberdeen’s strategy also seems to be gaining traction among investors. Its share price has risen 31% in the past year. It now offers a dividend yield of 6.7%, which is higher than many of its FTSE 100 financial services peers.

Dividend payments as a proportion of Standard Life Aberdeen’s earnings are relatively high. Therefore, I’m not expecting a rapid rate of growth in the company’s shareholder payments. However, its strategy to build a savings ecosystem and further develop its fund range could lead to improving levels of profitability, in my view, in the long run.

spud

[spud] 11/2/2020 11:09

Woodford’s Smaller Fund Gets Asset Makeover Before Reopening
By Suzy Waite
11 February 2020, 09:57 GMT



Standard Life Aberdeen Plc’s investment arm has overhauled a fund once run by Neil Woodford, shifting most of its assets into easy-to-sell stocks to prepare for possible withdrawals when the fund reopens on Thursday.

“There will be some investors who understandably want their money back, and that’s absolutely fair enough,” Andrew Millington, head of U.K. equities at Aberdeen Standard Investments, said in an interview. “We want to offer them what they thought they were buying, which was a liquid portfolio of U.K. equities that can generate attractive dividend yield with sustainable growth.”

Aberdeen Standard Investments was appointed in December to take over as manager of the renamed LF ASI Income Focus Fund. Withdrawals had been suspended in mid-October under redemption pressure. Assets in the fund have fallen to about 251 million pounds ($325 million) from a peak of 747 million pounds in November 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s down 17.7% in the past year.

Millington said about 90% of the fund’s old positions were sold and reinvested to improve liquidity and returns. He declined to give specifics about its current holdings.

The suspension of withdrawals from the income-focus fund was largely drowned out by the collapse of Woodford’s investment business, including the decision to liquidate his former flagship. The larger fund had gradually shifted out of large-cap companies into smaller and harder-to-sell stocks. That, coupled with poor performance, left Woodford unable to pay back investors who wanted their money. While the income focus fund didn’t load up on illiquid stocks to the same degree, stakes in smaller companies made up more than a quarter of its holdings, according to Millington.

spud

[spud] 10/2/2020 12:45

Share repurchase starts today hence the pop in price I would have thought:


Standard Life Aberdeen plc Share Repurchase Programme

07/02/2020 4:13pm
UK Regulatory (RNS & others)

Standard Life Aberdeen (LSE:SLA)
Historical Stock Chart
1 Month : From Jan 2020 to Feb 2020

Click Here for more Standard Life Aberdeen Charts.
TIDMSLA

RNS Number : 3904C

Standard Life Aberdeen plc

07 February 2020

Standard Life Aberdeen plc ("the Company")

Share Repurchase Programme

On 7 February 2020, the Company entered into a non-discretionary instruction with J.P. Morgan Securities plc ("JPMS plc ") in relation to the purchase by JPMS plc, acting as riskless principal, of ordinary shares in the Company's share capital (the "Shares") for an aggregate consideration of no greater than GBP400m. The purchase of Shares will take place during the period commencing on 10 February 2020 and ending no later than 30 September 2020.

spud

[mcunliffe1] 05/2/2020 11:56

Hold tight Chinese Investor, I'm sure the share price will get there at some point :-(

[chinese investor] 05/2/2020 08:57

Looks like I won't !

[chinese investor] 31/1/2020 15:14

I'll be buying at 280p.

[ramellous] 31/1/2020 13:07

My workplace use SLA for its auto enrolment.now. They match an employees 8% with a generous 12%. 3 years ago my firm also offered generous transfer values out of the DB pension whic a lot took up. This has resulted in many there retiring at 55 in the last couple of years that would not have before the transfer.

[mcunliffe1] 31/1/2020 12:08

Thank spud for that post.

I like to look at everything in a positive light.

This enormous amount of money that is being taken out of pensions is, presumably, being spent down the line thus creating yet more work/profit etc for businesses (accepted that some will be spent on foreign holidays).

Quite a proportion of this draw-down money would have been given back anyway in the form of an annuity - the loser here is probably the insurance company who will lose the profit associated with the annuity which, generally speaking, was of greater benefit than draw-down.

I draw-down. I also put some back in to the same pension provider. There are reasons, partly related to tax and partly to guarantees attached to my old With Profit pensions with SLA.

I control my actions and that wouldn't have been the case with an annuity.

[spud] 31/1/2020 11:33

Today’s official figures report that £32.97 billion of taxable payments have been taken from pensions since freedom and choice was introduced. This equates to an average of £18.75 million being flexibly withdrawn every day over the past 1,760 days since pension freedoms were introduced.

Alistair McQueen, Head of Savings and Retirement at Aviva comments:

“The pension freedoms continue to break records, exceeding expectations, as 1.34 million individuals have so far decided to take advantage of their greater flexibilities.

“However, the peak for pension freedoms are yet to come. In the coming decade a record nine million people are set to enter the arena of the pension freedoms at age 55.2 This is more than we can expect to see in any decade that follows. The 2020s are likely to see “peak pension freedoms”.

spud

[ygor705] 30/1/2020 18:44

If SLA continue to haemorrhage funds they may have to think of merging with another fund manager and then ruthlessly cut costs. M & G perhaps?

[spud] 30/1/2020 11:36

A U.K. Fund Manager Tries to Lure Investors With a Huge Dividend
By Steven Goldstein
Updated Jan. 30, 2020 4:30 am ET / Original Jan. 30, 2020 4:17 am ET



British fund manager Standard Life Aberdeen isn’t an easy stock to love in an industry facing immense challenges.

There’s pressure to cut fees with the shift to low-cost index funds along with more regulatory scrutiny.

At the end of June 2019, the company (ticker: SLA.UK) earned 43.9 basis points for every pound of assets managed in its institutional funds, down from 51.1 basis points in 2017.

On top of that, the company has struggled with performance. The Standard Life Global Absolute Return Strategy fund, once the biggest fund in the United Kingdom, has halved in size as substandard performance led to outflows. Over three years, just 27% of its equity funds were outperforming their respective benchmarks, according to the company. Performance on the bond side has been stronger, and about two-thirds of all its funds are outperforming the benchmark.

The 2017 merger between Standard Life and emerging markets–focused Aberdeen Asset Management led Lloyds Banking Group to withdraw its assets from Aberdeen, since Standard Life is a competitor on the insurance side to the Scottish Widows arm of Lloyds. Terms of settlement have seen 74 billion pounds sterling ($96 billion) in assets already out the door and another £35 billion set to go, though Lloyds paid a £140 million fee. Martin Gilbert, who led Aberdeen since he co-founded the firm in 1983, and then ran the combined firm, has stepped down.

Sell-side analysts are, at best, lukewarm. Out of 16 ratings, half were Hold and two were Sell or Underweight, according to FactSet.

The company’s £7.3 billion market cap includes stakes in three companies—India’s HDFC Asset Management and HDFC Life Insurance, as well as a 27% stake in U.K. insurance and pension consolidator Phoenix. Standard Life Aberdeen had £577.5 billion in assets under management as of June 30.

Fahad Hassan, a fund manager at Atlantic House Fund Management, said that the core Standard Life Aberdeen’s market cap when those stakes are backed out, even applying a 25% discount, is just £3.5 billion.

He estimates that if assets managed for its key partners are excluded, the company runs about £250 billion, on which it earns £1.2 billion to £1.3 billion in fees. On those numbers, the asset management business is trading at just 6.75 times earnings, whereas the group as a whole trades at 21 times, he says. Analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove have similar numbers, saying the core asset-management business trades at eight times projected 2020 earnings.

There’s reason to think Standard Life Aberdeen’s assets can grow again once the overhang of the Lloyds settlement is removed. Hassan says its distribution in the U.K. pension market is second to none. A 2008 law requiring employers to auto-enroll some of their staff members in pensions will keep that market growing.

Its stake in Phoenix also is a help. Phoenix buys the annuities of companies that are no longer offering new policies, and it uses Standard Life Aberdeen as its fund manager for these policies.

“They won’t be able to replace the whole of the Lloyds’ outflow, but there is room for them to replace some of that through Phoenix-based acquisitions and various tie-ups that they have around the world,” Hassan said.

The company’s stock price has already moved up some 17% over the past 12 months, well ahead of the 9% gain for the FTSE 100 over the same period. Even with the stock price appreciation, its dividend yield is still north of 7%.

Standard Life Aberdeen carries more than its share of risks. But a dividend that high is an encouragement for investors willing to take the chance.

spud

[mcunliffe1] 30/1/2020 09:52

In post number 61 on 17th Jan I stated that I'd update you on this board as we approach February and SLA adjust their terminal bonuses on With Profit policies.

I'm amazed quite frankly. After a few years of downward "adjustments" they have increaed the T.B. by 5.2%

Thankyou SLA.

[spud] 28/1/2020 11:38

Chris Bredin: How platforms are innovating
27 January 2020



By his own admission, most of Chris Bredin's articles in the past year have focused on negative aspects of the platform sector and so, having been back in the office for a couple of weeks, he has written about five 'cool' or genuinely helpful developments the market made in 2019...

Last year saw a fair number of pricing reductions, starting in January with AJ Bell removing its bulk dealing charges for model portfolios. It might seem a small reduction, but if you consider firms running advisory models and regularly rebalancing, even at £1 per trade, costs add up quickly.

Seven IM shaved a very small amount from its charges and Transact announced its now customary annual price reduction, shaving 1 or 2bps off its pricing tiers.

But the gong must go to Standard Life Aberdeen, which cut prices across Elevate and Wrap. Prices were cut by as much as 11bps on Elevate and the very recently announced cuts to Wrap, which come into effect in April, will make it a much more competitive proposition. Of particular note is the drawdown price lock-in and the flat fee option for clients with >£1m invested. Hats off to them.

Standard Life Wrap Individually Managed Accounts (IMA)

Standard Life label this service as ‘mass personalisation', effectively giving advisers the ability to cater for individual client needs at scale. This runs alongside Standard Life's investment hub and is, for now, only available to portfolios run on a discretionary basis. The DFM, by and large, does the same job as if it was running their MPS on any other platform, but there is more control in the hands of the adviser - complex algorithms take care of the rest.


IMA allows advisers to automatically fund an ISA from a GIA every year for either the full allowance or a set amount. Alerts can be sent to DFMs telling them about CGT allowance and client positions during trading, so it can react accordingly.

The most innovative feature is the ability to tailor individual client portfolios, but for these to remain inside the investment strategy set by the DFM. On the adviser side, they can select to exclude particular funds, in which case the substitute fund (selected by the DFM in advance) is automatically invested for the client, but still managed in line with the model and without any more admin required.

spud

[ramellous] 27/1/2020 19:08

Skeoch chatting at Davos.. He errrrrrrs a lot..