Aberdeen Standard Investments, the money management unit of Standard Life Aberdeen, saw assets under management and administration fall 3.2% for the six months ended June 30 to £557.1 billion ($732.7 billion) and drop 3.9% for the year.
A financial update Tuesday said net outflows totaled £19.2 billion for the first half of 2018, compared with net outflows of £20.9 billion for the six months ended Dec. 31 and £16.4 billion in net outflows for the six months ended June 30, 2017.
Equities net outflows were £7.6 billion for the six months ended June 30, vs. £3.4 billion in net outflows for the previous six months and £4.8 billion in net outflows for the half-year ended June 30, 2017. The update attributed outflows to continued weaker investment performance. Outflows were primarily from global, Asia and emerging markets strategies.
Multiasset net outflows totaled £4.4 billion for the half-year, with Global Absolute Return Strategies fund net outflows of £5.3 billion continuing "to conceal more encouraging flows in the broader asset class," said the update.
For the second quarter of 2018, Aberdeen Standard Investments recorded net outflows of £10 billion, vs. £9.2 billion in net outflows for the first quarter 2018 and £10.1 billion in net outflows for the second quarter 2017.
Pure assets under management were not available.
Assets under management and administration for parent Standard Life Aberdeen fell 2.4% for both the six months and the year ended June 30 to £639.8 billion.
Net outflows totaled £17.1 billion, a slight improvement on net outflows of £18.3 billion for the six months ended Dec. 31. For the six months ended June 30, 2017, net outflows totaled £12.7 billion.
All figures for the six months ended Dec. 31, and for the half-year ended June 30, 2017, are pro forma as Standard Life and Aberdeen merged in August 2017.
Total adjusted operating income was £966 million for the six-month period, down 8.7% from the previous months six months and 7.2% lower vs. figures for the half-year ended June 30, 2017. Adjusted profit before tax fell 7.7% for the six months to £478 million and decreased 8.3% from the first six months of 2017.
"Conditions for the asset management industry continue to be challenging," said Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch, co-CEOs at Standard Life Aberdeen, in a statement accompanying the update. "However, our gross inflows remain robust and are spread across a diverse range of investment capabilities, and our market-leading adviser platforms continue to grow. Our investment and distribution teams are winning new mandates and we have a good and diverse pipeline of business from around the world."
Standard Life Aberdeen announced the proposed sale of its U.K. and European insurance operations to Phoenix Group in February, which was approved by shareholders in June. The deal is set to complete in the third quarter, subject to approvals.
The firm also completed the initial public offering of its £31.9 billion Indian money management business HDFC Asset Management this month. The update said that, as part of the IPO, Standard Life Aberdeen reduced its holding in the firm to about 30% from about 38%, for a total net consideration of about £180 million. As of Monday, the remaining shares were valued at about £1.3 billion.
