Standard Life Aberdeen Share Discussion Threads

[chinese investor] 02/10/2020 16:44

20p to 260p (my break even price) !

[gaygay3] 02/10/2020 08:46

CI
will you sell at £2.60

[spud] 01/10/2020 11:23

Standard Life Aberdeen extends share buyback programme
01 October 2020, 08:14

Financial services company Standard Life Aberdeen is to extend its share buyback programme until the end of January, it announced this morning.

The company repurchased £279 million worth of shares between 19 February and 30 September 2020.

It has now agreed with JP Morgan Securities to continue buybacks until 28 February.

The total value of buybacks is capped at £400 million, including the £279 million already repurchased.

spud

[chinese investor] 01/10/2020 08:42

28p to 260p (my break even price) !

[spud] 30/9/2020 11:34

'Indeed, the then current share price for Standard Life implied a price-to-earnings multiple of just five for ASI, versus the European Asset Management sector on 12 times' earnings.'

So extrapolation would suggest a comparable EAM valuation of circa 540p.

I'd settle for that.

spud

[garycook] 30/9/2020 11:26

Broker tips: Standard Life Aberdeen.
Tue 29 September 2020 17:09

(Sharecast News) - Analysts at JP Morgan upgraded their recommendation for shares of Standard Life Aberdeen from 'neutral' to 'overweight' after analysing the various avenues at the new chief executive officer's disposal to close the valuation gap versus rivals.

Amongst those areas for potential improvement, the investment bank noted a possible reduction in the dividend payout, given that the insurer's was the highest in the top flight index and improved disclosure and efficiency in its Platforms and Wealth business.

Non-organic growth was another possible path, JP Morgan said, arguing that Standard Life could reinvest surplus capital from the sale of HDFC Life to accelerate growth at its Aberdeen Standard Investments unit via acquisitions.

Indeed, the then current share price for Standard Life implied a price-to-earnings multiple of just five for ASI, versus the European Asset Management sector on 12 times' earnings.

"Hence we see opportunities to close this gap."

Even after lowering their estimates for the firm's dividend yield to in financial years 2020/21, that still left the shares sporting a roughly 7% yield, JP Morgan pointed out, in comparison to 3.5% for FTSE 100 constituents on average.

JP Morgan also nudged up its estimates for earnings per share in 2020-21 by 2% and 1%, respectively.

All told, the target price was raised from 255.0p to 270.0p.

[garycook] 30/9/2020 11:21

Looking good here now.With JP Morgan upgraded SLA to Overweight from Neutral and a TP of 270p.Nice purchase by me on Friday 4,500 shares at 210.50p. 25/09/2020 Bought B750096302 210.50p 4,500 9,531.90

[ygor705] 30/9/2020 10:54

Slight shift in the wind here. The new CEO had made his first headline. Let's hope that it continues.

[spud] 29/9/2020 11:31

New Standard Life Aberdeen boss makes his mark as Campbell Fleming exits
By Sebastian Cheek, 28 Sep 20
‘Whenever a CEO comes on board there is always a senior management reshuffle’



Standard Life Aberdeen global head of distribution Campbell Fleming is leaving the firm at the end of the month following a shake-up of its leadership team by recently-appointed chief executive Stephen Bird.

Bird, a Citigroup veteran, has been reviewing the business since he joined the firm earlier this month to replace CEO Keith Skeoch who stood down after 14 years as a director at the firm.

SLA said the review focused on aligning the company to meet the changing needs of customers and clients and better position for growth over four business areas: asset management, adviser platforms, savings and wealth, and strategic partnerships.

Additions to leadership team

As part of the review, Fleming (pictured) is stepping down, but SLA global sales director and head of EMEA distribution Alex Hoctor-Duncan, Standard Life Savings CEO Noel Butwell, 1825 CEO Julie Scott and Aberdeen Standard Capital CEO Richard Charnock will join Bird’s leadership team.

In a statement, SLA said Fleming has “led the company’s growth agenda and created a scalable distribution platform since the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017”.

Bird said: “Campbell has made an enormous contribution to Standard Life Aberdeen and previously to Aberdeen Asset Management. His tireless leadership, vision and insight have positioned the company for future growth and I am hugely grateful to him and wish him well.”

Fairview Investing investment consultant Ben Yearsley said “it feels like there is no one left from Aberdeen now”.

“It was a merger, now it feels like SLI has the upper hand. However, whenever a CEO comes on board there is always a senior management reshuffle, so no surprise really.”

AJ Bell head of active portfolios Ryan Hughes said whenever a new CEO is appointed there is inevitably a couple of casualties and it is clear Bird has decided he wants a slightly different group of people at the top.

“It feels like this is just a case of the new guy shaping his team,” he added. “There’s not any new recruitment, so there’s also possibly an element of cost cutting at the end of the day.”

Fleming says its been a privilege

Fleming joined Aberdeen Asset Management in August 2016 from Columbia Threadneedle Investments, where he was the chief executive – EMEA and Global COO, having joined the firm in November 2009 as global head of distribution.

Before that, he worked at JP Morgan Asset Management as head of UK and prior to that, for financial services regulators in the UK and Australia as well as the Attorney General’s department in Sydney, where he completed his legal training.

Fleming said: “It’s been a real pleasure and privilege over the last few years having achieved so much together. I wish Stephen, my colleagues, and Standard Life Aberdeen every success in building a better future for all , especially our clients and customers.”

The announcement follows the departure of UK equities manager Louise Kernohan who it was announced last week had joined BNY Mellon Investment Management to run two UK equity mandates.

It also follows the closure of the UK Recovery fund after a run of poor performance and its largest investor deciding to redeem their holding.

spud

[mcunliffe1] 29/9/2020 09:32

Today's papers are commenting upon the quite strong possibility of negative interest rates. I hold little money in traditional bank cash accounts, what "cash" I have is held mainly in Premium Bonds. These rates are falling in Dec 2020 from 1.4% to 1%.

That's not a trigger for me to pull money out - but it's a significant tempter. I'd like as not need to invest some of that money in a stocks and shares ISA over the next 2 financial years through to, say, mid April 2021.

If negative rates do arrive there could be a considerable amount of money moving into such investments and even SLA should get a slice of the action. I fear the banks will lose though.

[ygor705] 29/9/2020 08:46

MCunliffe: your comments about the number of shares being repurchased by SLA is also something that I've been thinking about. I thought that the share buybacks were going to cease around February of this year but they have go on and on and on! The share price has been falling and so they are getting more bang for there buck as the exercise has continued. We won't know the effect on eps for some little while but as you correctly point out the overall enterprise value of the group has been steadily shrinking. This in itself opens up possibilities for a further merger in a shrinking sector.

[mcunliffe1] 28/9/2020 08:56

Safety in size? LV and Royal London may merge to create a mega-mutual.

Is mutual back in fashion? Could this prove a better match than SL and Aberdeen?

[spud] 27/9/2020 21:22

https://www.ft.com/content/ee07c958-d4f8-46fe-9292-53f26cd82776Life insurer LV in takeover talks. Will be confirmed Monday . FTspud

[chinese investor] 25/9/2020 08:21

25 million National Savings customers will be looking for a place to park their money.

[mcunliffe1] 25/9/2020 07:59

A thought passed (briefly) through my head later yesterday. SLA buying back its own shares may result in a much lower number of shareholders if the sellers are those poor souls such as I who were given their shares at demutualisation.

A lower number of shareholders would make a take-over easier to vote through perhaps?

I know, massive leap here......but.

[garycook] 25/9/2020 03:08

MC1,Yes thought SLA were cheap at 218p.Looking to buy 4,500 more shares at any bottom.Marketscreener now giving support at around 192.70p,and Morningstar a Stop price for a Long position of 196p.So lets see what happens from 209.70p.SLA should be up today with the market in general.But with the lead up to the US Election who know,s where the bottom could be,even back to 170p,but I hope not buying 8,000 shares at 218p.If you have spare cash buy more at or near the next bottom !

[spud] 24/9/2020 16:07

Either imo MC. The MMs are merely making a market here and yes it's evident that there probably are more sellers than buyers atm, although that doesn't make either side correct. spud

[mcunliffe1] 24/9/2020 15:32

GARYCOOK, you bought at 218p and thought that was good. I presume you'd buy at 190's also? Where's the floor on this?

At what point does a predator pounce?

[mcunliffe1] 24/9/2020 15:18

Spud, when you say "snapped up" do you mean by a predatory company or investment vehicle?

Given the Standard are buying their own shares back there must be an equal number of shares being sold in the market. Guessing there's more willing sellers than buyers given the decline in share price over the past 9 months (discounting the covid-19 "v" blip.

I have spare money to invest but would NEVER buy more SLA shares. I'd invest it in my pension held with SLA - probably in either/or their Managed Fund or UK Smaller Companies fund. I'd attract some tax gain via the pension investment and have some confidence in the growth of that investment. With their shares I could not have that same confidence and would expect their divi. payments next year to be lower than this.

[garycook] 24/9/2020 15:06

Spud,Totally agree yes 190.s on the cards for SLA.Struggling with all Financials atm !

[spud] 24/9/2020 15:02

Sub 200p for any length of time and I can see this being snapped up. Grossly undervalued as is AV. spud

[panshanger1] 23/9/2020 13:02

Thanks for posting spud

[spud] 23/9/2020 11:33

Shares in insurance companies are holding firm despite a high court ruling this month that they could have to pay out thousands. In the judgement, the court ruled that some insurers would have to pay out to businesses claiming business interruption due to the pandemic.

However, as City AM reports, investors in Legal and General [LGEN], Aviva [AV] and Standard Life [SLA] “shook off the ruling”. What’s more remarkable is that many had predicted the insurance sector would be one of the hardest hit by the outbreak, paying out on both business and life insurance policies.

Yet, while half-year profits have seen sharp falls, the sector seems resilient. Unlike banking, which has seen share prices suppressed since the outbreak, insurers have by and large managed to claw back some losses.

So, what’s the outlook for heavyweights Legal and General, Aviva and Standard Life’s share prices for the rest of the year?

Legal and General’s share price

While Legal and General’s share price has been on a downward trajectory since mid-August, it's still lightyears above the 138.6p it was trading at on 23 March. Causing the late summer slip were first-half pre-tax profits of £285m, a steep 73% drop from the same period last year. Weighing on earnings were historically low-interest rates and payouts on life insurance policies, both due to the coronavirus.

£285MILLION
LEGAL & GENERAL'S HALF-YEAR PRE-TAX PROFITS - A 73% YOY DECLINE

Still, that didn't stop Legal and General from paying out a 4.93p per share first-half dividend. While that's less than some analysts were expecting, considering that the regulator has been pressuring insurers to freeze payouts to shore up capital, it’s better than nothing.

For income-seeking investors, some analysts reckon dividends will be back to strength sooner rather than later. Gordon Aitken, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said: “We see this dividend caution as merely temporary and not an indication that dividend growth will slow.”

Among the analysts tracking the stock, Legal and General's share price carries a 288.79p price target, which would see a 59.6% upside on 21 September’s closing price if hit.

“We see this dividend caution as merely temporary and not an indication that dividend growth will slow” - Gordon Aitken, RBC Capital Markets analyst


Aviva’s share price

Two months into the job and Aviva's new CEO Amanda Blanc has picked up £1m worth of the insurer's stock. Picking up 324,887 Aviva shares at just over 300p certainly shows self-belief in her own turnaround strategy.

Having replaced Maurice Tulloch in the top spot after the former CEO resigned for family health reasons, Blanc has the task of turning around Aviva's share price, which has fallen 30% since the start of the year.

30%
AVIVA'S YTD SHARE PRICE DROP

To do this, Blanc has pledged to focus on Aviva’s core UK, Ireland and Canada markets, while reducing its European and Asian operations. Already Blanc has overseen the sale of Aviva's Singapore operations to Singapore Life for $1.98bn in one of the biggest insurance deals in Southeast Asia.

“The sale of Aviva Singapore is a significant first step in our new strategy to bring greater focus to Aviva’s portfolio,” said Blanc.

The deal also got the blessing from analysts at Jefferies, who described it as constituting “exceptional value creation” for Aviva, while commending Blanc for showing “decisive action”.

So, a promising start from the new CEO, with the possibility of having picked up Aviva’s share price at a bargain? Analysts tracking the stock on Yahoo Finance have a 551.33p average price target. Hitting this would see an impressive 95.3% upside on Aviva’s current share price (as of 21 September’s close).

“The sale of Aviva Singapore is a significant first step in our new strategy to bring greater focus to Aviva’s portfolio” - Aviva's new CEO Amanda Blanc


Standard Life Aberdeen’s share price

Like Aviva, Standard Life’s share price has seen a steep drop off since the start of the year, followed by a mild recovery since the start of the pandemic.

In half-year results, adjusted pre-tax profit came in at £195m, down 30% from the £280m seen in the same period last year. The sharp downturn in profit can be notched up to both the coronavirus and the loss of its business with Lloyds bank. In total, net withdrawals came in at £24.8bn, causing fee revenue to drop 13%. Despite the losses, Standard Life rewarded shareholders with a 7.3p interim dividend.

£195MILLION
STANDARD LIFE'S HALF-YEAR PRE-TAX PROFITS - A 30% YOY DECLINE

Presiding over his last set of results, the outgoing CEO Keith Skeoch commented that “the long-term consequences of the crisis will be profound,” and predicted that any economic recovery would be W-shaped without a vaccine.

While that struck a gloomy chord, Standard Life actually saw overall outflows slow, excluding the withdrawal paid to Lloyds. If the asset manager continues to reduce outflows, Standard Life’s share price may have already been through the worst.

Analysts have pinned a 380.07p average target on Standard Life’s share price, which would see a 75% gain on the current share price (through 21 September’s close).

spud

[garycook] 21/9/2020 12:22

In here at 218p.Cheap with a 9.9% yield