Aberdeen: Interactive Investor success softens mass withdrawals
Investors pulled £5.2bn from Aberdeen over the last quarter, disappointing analysts that had been hoping for a turnaround since the Scottish fundhouse’s name change.
The asset manager, which dropped the disemvoweled ‘Abrdn’ name earlier this year, saw withdrawals from every arm of its business over the firm quarter except Interactive Investor, it revealed in a trading update.
The majority of the withdrawals came from a single £4.2bn withdrawal from pension giant Phoenix, which had previously been announced.
Analysts had been expecting investors to pull £4.7bn across the quarter, but despite the misstep, the firm reaffirmed its adjusted operating profit target for the year of £300m.
“While there remains work to be done, we are encouraged by the business’s progress, most notably in meeting or exceeding client service targets,” said Aberdeen CEO Jason Windsor.
Aberdeen also noted that it had won a £6bn quant strategy funding mandate in April, with the figures not included in the first quarter numbers.
Meanwhile, Interactive Investor continued to be the sole point of success in Aberdeen’s business.
The DIY investment platform delivered strong organic growth over the quarter, with total customers jumping nine per cent to 450,000, while SIPP customers increased 29 per cent to 88,000.
Investors funnelled £1.6bn into the platform over the quarter, compared to £1.2bn in the first quarter of 2024.
However, assets at the investment platform grew by only £200m since the start of the year, due to £1.4bn in losses for investors betting on the market during the period.
“Interactive Investor has seen significant growth in new customers, and in trading volumes, which have risen to record levels during the recent period of market volatility,” added Windsor.
The trading platform recently told Morning Wire that it had recorded its highest-ever trading volumes on 7 April, and daily average retail trades jumped by 19 per cent from the previous year.
Earlier this month, Interactive Investor spent £11m acquiring execution-only broker Jarvis Investment Management, which is said was expected to bring in between 20,000 to 30,000 customers in the long-term.