Fund giant faces £16bn of outflows

THE bosses of Standard Life Aberdeen have defended their £11bn merger as billions of pounds continue to head for the door.

The Scottish fund giant, created a year ago from the tie-up of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management, said £16.6bn left the business in the first half of the year due to “tough” market conditions.

Its pre-tax profits fell more than 8pc to £478m, below analyst expectations.

The results pile further pressure on the group’s coheads, Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch, who since the merger have faced continued outflows, the loss of their biggest client, Lloyds Banking Group, and a sliding share price. Mr Gilbert said: “We have one of the strongest balance sheets in the world, so we’re actually quite pleased with progress.”

However, shares in the firm rose 4.8pc to 321.3p after investors welcomed the news that it would increase its interim dividend by 4.3pc to 7.3p and would bring forward its plans to return £1.75bn to shareholders.