Aberdeen rises after investors seek out risk
ABERDEEN Asset Management was one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 yesterday after it posted a 14 per cent jump in profit and raised its dividend by a sixth.
The stock closed up 3.47 per cent at 283.5p after Aberdeen signalled investors had rediscovered their appetite for risk as global economic fears ease.
The fund manager said pre-tax profit rose to £162.2m in the six months to 31 March, driven by a 3.4 basis point rise in its average fee margin to 43.9 basis points as demand grew for higher margin investments, such as emerging markets products.
Chief executive Martin Gilbert said some parts of corporate Britain, particularly certain consumer brands with a strong presence online or in emerging markets, are doing “really well” despite gloomy economic data.
“They are cashed up and have taken out costs and have big Far Eastern operations,” he told City A.M. Fund managers should spend the majority of their time looking at the health of companies rather than wider economic data, he added.
Aberdeen said assets under management rose nine per cent to £184.7bn after strong fund performance outweighed net outflows of £400m.
The equities business attracted £4.9bn of net inflows but fixed income and multi-manager funds shrank by £2.3bn and £1.8bn respectively.
Revenue rose seven per cent to £413.1m and Aberdeen said it is raising the dividend 16 per cent to 4.4p per share.
Aberdeen also said it has raised $242m for an Asia Pacific property fund of funds and been appointed for two new mandates, which should add around $200m for assets in coming months.