The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
SLA to begin the return of £1.75bn to shareholders
Standard Life Aberdeen seeing benefits of £11 billion mega-merger
Standard Life Aberdeen is bringing forward plans to return £1.75 billion to shareholders, saying the first tranche of its share buyback programme will begin “in the next few days”.
The group announced the share buyback in May, saying it would follow the sale of its European insurance business to Phoenix Group.
However, in its half-year update yesterday, the fund manager said it would start the first £175 million tranche of its share buyback programme despite the fact the Phoenix sale is only expected to complete in the third quarter.
The group, which was formed out of the £11 billion merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management last year, reported £16.6bn in outflows for the first half of the year.
Total assets under management were £610.1bn, compared with £626.5bn for the same period in 2017.
Pre-tax profit for the period were higher at £127 million, up 35% year-onyear from £94m.
The firm said political uncertainty continued to knock market sentiment, and these uncertainties were pushing investors to look for new strategies.
Co-chief executives Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch said conditions for the asset management industry were “challenging.”
“Our investment and distribution teams are winning new mandates and we have a good and diverse pipeline of business from around the world,” the duo stated.
“We are actively taking steps to improve our investment performance in key areas and are encouraged by the impact of these initiatives.”
They said the expected benefits of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management’s combination were being felt.
“We are also pleased by progress on the integration programme and achievement of cost synergies.
“The sale of our UK and European insurance operations will complete our transformation to a capital-light business and enhances our strategic partnership with Phoenix.
“Our financial strength allows us to return up to £1.75 billion of capital to shareholders and we will commence the first tranche of £175m in the next few days.
“We will still have one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector, which enables us to continue to develop and broaden our areas of strength and focus on delivering long-term performance for our clients.
Shares in Standard Life Aberdeen closed the session up 14.70p at 321.30p.