Abrdn clients pull £13.9bn amid job cuts at investment firm

The fund manager and wealth specialist saw its pre-tax loss shrink to £6 million for last year, reducing from a £612 million loss.

Abrdn is in talks over the acquisition of Interactive Investor (Abrdn/PA)

Abrdn said clients have pulled billions from the investment company as it begins major cuts this year.

It came as the fund manager and wealth specialist saw its pre-tax loss shrink to £6 million for last year, reducing from a £612 million loss.

The firm said last month it plans to cut around 500 jobs as part of a sweeping overhaul to save the investment firm up to £150 million in costs.

The Edinburgh-based company, which rebranded from Standard Life Aberdeen in 2021, said the cuts will primarily take place this year and be completed by the end of 2025.

It also reported £13.9 billion in net outflows during 2023 as many clients withdrew funds.

We are taking action to rebuild and grow profit in our investments business

Stephen Bird, Abrdn

This partly led to a 4% fall in net operating revenue to £1.4 billion for the year.

Meanwhile, the firm said operating expenses decreased by 4% reflecting management actions to reduce costs.

It also said it witnessed £152 million of restructuring and corporate transaction expenses over the past year.

Stephen Bird, chief executive officer of Abrdn, said: “Over the past three years we have reshaped the business to fit the modern investment landscape.

“We now have content and distribution aligned to the products and services clients need, and we are better positioned for future growth.

“We are taking action to rebuild and grow profit in our investments business.

“We have sharpened our focus on improving investment performance, streamlined our fund range, reduced costs by £102 million in 2023, exceeding our £75 million target and we announced a new cost-saving programme of at least £150 million on January 24.”