Speaking at the release of the firm’s numbers for the six months to end March 2015, Gilbert said the level of outflows, which grew to £11.3bn during the quarter, particularly from emerging market funds, had made the period a tricky one. But, he said, the firm had produced great numbers, helped along to some extent by market performance that saw profit before tax rise from £217m to £270.2m.
And, he was quick to add, while the outflows were a concern, it is more important than ever to ensure the company holds the line and so, analysts should not expect any change of style.
“As a business that has built itself on the back of Emerging markets and Asia, it is very important that we don’t have style drift at this point. It is very important that the bets we have made we adhere to because if we change anything and that goes wrong we are finished as a business,” he said.
Asked about the prospects for the second half and the flows in April so far, Gilbert said, what the firm really needs is to see the US market going down and EMs going up, but he added quickly, Aberdeen is probably the only fund management house looking for that to happen.
“It is going to be a tricky second half for us,” he said, “It is likely that things will start to change when the first US rate rise happens, but he have seen no sign of that yet, if anything it has been pushed out further.”
But, he added, “We have tended to see outflows in October and Nov being modest and then accelerating at the end of the quarter. We are seeing the same thing in April, so we can’t get too confident. People are beginning to say there is value in emerging markets, but we haven’t really seen the flows.”
Financials
Dividend per share rose to 7.5p for the half from 6.75p the previous year, while assets under management rose from £324.5bn as of March 2014, to £330.6bn this half.
Gross new business inflows for the period were £23.4bn, up from £14.3bn in last year’s comparable period, but were more than countered by £34.7bn in outflows, up from £23.1bn the previous year.
From a regional perspective, Asia pacific was hardest hit, with £5.3bn in outflows, with global emerging markets and Global & EAFE in second and third at £3.9bn and £3.8bn respectively.
