Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Abrdn in ‘tricky position’ as it faces FTSE 100 relegation

Scottish Open sponsor Abrdn faces possible relegation from FTSE 100 index.
Scottish Open sponsor Abrdn faces possible relegation from FTSE 100 index.

Market turmoil and a cancelled deal with a rival saw Abrdn plunge to a £320 million first-half loss.

The asset manager’s shares closed more than 6% lower Tuesday after it revealed a similar percentage drop in assets under management to £508 billion, compared with £542bn a year earlier.

Chief executive Stephen Bird said the half year results “largely reflect the challenging global economic environment and market turbulence”.

Abrdn ceo Stephen Bird.

The Edinburgh-headquartered firm was created out of the mega-merger of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life in 2017.

Abrdn, which announced its name change last year, was also hit by the withdrawal of more than £24bn of assets linked to a deal with Lloyds Banking Group that was cancelled due to competition fears ahead of the two giants becoming one.

The company employs 5,000 people around the globe, including at its namesake office in Aberdeen.

Share slump impact

The shares fell to well under half the level at which the merger was struck which means Abrdn is in the relegation zone of the FTSE 100 index.

This was despite recent acquisitions meant to diversify the business, including the investment platform Interactive Investor which it bought in a £1.5bn deal announced in December.

John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, said the figures “confirm the tricky position the company finds itself in.”

He added: “After a challenging year or so, between market turbulence and a restructuring of its business, Abrdn finds itself at the edge of the FTSE 100 having lost around -30% of its value since the beginning of 2022.

“The purchase of Tritax and Interactive Investor have reshaped the company and appear to be performing well, but there are some more strategic moves required to get the fund manager back on track.

“Abrdn seems certain to be relegated from London’s top index unless it can pull something out of the bag in the near-term.”

Conversation