Aberdeen hit by funds outflow

Total assets under management rose from £212bn to £325bn, but only after including the £134bn that came with the acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP). Without these, assets fell 5 per cent to £190bn. The biggest drag came from emerging market equities, where a £1.9bn positive market performance was wiped out by £8.1bn of net outflows and £3.2bn of adverse exchange rate movements. Other asset classes fared a little better. Fixed income and Aberdeen solutions - a multi-asset business - were only marginally lower after excluding SWIP, while property assets recorded a small rise.

Inevitably, gross fee income was lower, but a fall in commission payable to intermediaries left net management fees barely changed at £486m, even though performance fees nearly halved to £12.4m. Had the SWIP integration, which only completed this month, made a full half-year contribution, Aberdeen believes profits would have been boosted by £48m. Analysts at Numis Securities are forecasting full-year pre-tax profits of £503m and EPS of 31.9p (from £483m and 32.5p in 2013).