Aberdeen attracts high-margin work

A strong equity market helped to boost assets under management (AUM) by nearly 9 per cent to £185bn for Aberdeen Asset Management. Fee income was up 7 per cent and, combined with a strict hold on costs, this boosted operating margins and produced a 14 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £162m. Volatility may cast a shadow on investment performance from time to time, but Aberdeen remains a quality operation with solid long-term potential.

Demand was strongest for the group's equity products, notably emerging markets and Asia Pacific equities, and net new business inflows totalled £4.9m. However, funds were drained from Aberdeen's other offerings, leaving an overall net outflow of £0.4bn. But, once again, inflows were into higher-margin business, and fees from recurring income rose from £367m to £396m, although performance fees were trimmed from £19.1m to £17.4m. Crucially, average fees on new business were higher than on existing AUM, which helped to push the blended average management fee rate up from 41.2 to 43.9 basis points.

Investec Securities is forecasting full-year adjusted pre-tax profits of £329m and EPS of 20.4p (up from £301m and 18.8p in the 12 months to September 2011), rising to £378m and 23.6p, respectively, the following year.

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