AAM says Trump hits investor confidence

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has hit investor sentiment, according to Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM).

The group said yesterday that its assets under management fell to £302.7 billion during the three months to the end of December, from £312.1bn for the previous quarter.

Chief executive Martin Gilbert said: “Investor sentiment had been improving steadily in the early part of the quarter, but stalled following the US presidential election result with investors putting asset allocation decisions on hold. Encouragingly, despite the market volatility our equity strategies produced strong returns for the year.”

AAM reported net outflows of £10.5bn for the quarter as clients pulled money out of its finds, but said this was partly offset by a £3.3bn gain on the back of market performance and foreign exchange effects.

Shore Capital analyst Paul Mcginnis said that AAM has now racked up 15 consecutive quarters of net outflows – a cumulative figure of £104.6bn.

He added: “We would warn investors that maintenance of the current dividend is at risk, given the annual cost of about £255 million compared to surplus capital of just £60m as at September 2016 and the fact that forecast earnings are currently at a level barely above the dividend.”

However, Gilbert said he was “encouraged” by progress being made at AAM, adding that the FTSE 250 group “remains in good shape, we have a strong balance sheet, a global client base and wide range of capabilities to meet the needs of investors”. 0 Martin Gilbert said AAM ‘remains in good shape’