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The cash cow will attract a bid over time. Adding.
Long-term very dissatisfied Standard Life holder here. Bird has had three years and the merger with Aberdeen has proved a financial disaster. In a world filled with Nvidia's Meta's and Microsoft's, abrdn with its' dumb name has proved a veritable dog of the first order, while good profits are being made elsewhere.
Is it time to euthanise the beast, flog off the parts and hand the cash back to shareholders, via an orderly liquidation?
Final Results 27-Feb-2024
BlackRock have said publicly they won't take part in consolidation, only interested in acquiring to broaden their proposition. Plus abrdn's AUM is a few month's worth of flows for them. As people move across to passive, the assets are going to them anyway. Why bother?
That's the issue when thinking of buyers for abrdn. For anyone big enough to do it, it's not worth it.
JPM do not do not have asset management in Edinburgh. Just servicing for investment banking and WM.
I doubt Blackrock - they took £30bn of the Lloyds mandate from Standard Life Aberdeen (as was) - actively managed part I think. Why would you want to take over the poor previous managers? I thought JPM might have them when the USD was 1.15 against the GBP and abrdn had hit 140p - makes more sense as they have some asset management in Edinburgh and own that dog with fleas Nutmeg. Might be a joint bid with someone, who wants the platform. 'Mr Turnaround' Bird has had his three years and he certainly wants a takeover, so he gets a nice payoff and retires.
(Sharecast News) - Virgin Money said on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Abrdn's stake in their joint investment platform for £20m.
Virgin will buy Abrdn's 50% stake in the business, known as Virgin Money Investments, which was set up by the two in 2019. The digital platform had around £3.7bn in assets under management at the end of last year and more than 150,000 customers.
Allegra Patrizi, managing director for business and commercial at Virgin Money, said: "Our joint venture with Abrdn has successfully delivered a new investment service offering simple and straightforward investment options for customers.
"Taking full control of Virgin Money Investments will mean we can bring the investments and pensions business together with our deposits, mortgages, credit cards and daily banking, enabling us to help more customers feel confident to invest for the future and driving significant growth in assets under management."
The company plans to move all staff from the investments arm into Virgin Money, and does not expect any job losses.
Leaner and meaner to be snapped up in 2024 - my name in the frame is Blackrock.
My read re Bloomberg terminals is that it is a price negotiation tactic. The SP here is back to the ADD atm with the dividend alone worth the hold.
I have been invested in ABDN - since the floatation and it owes me nothing as the dividends and trades have multibagged the initial 230p.
Risk to 130p Reward to 320p - strap in to this rocket. DYOR.
Should have said in the heading.
Unfortunaly cannot repost, but front page, (US firm Harris Associates), "Abrdn Investor sold up after losing faith in management's talent for revival"!
First they lost their ‘e’s, now they intend to lose their ‘b’s , alas not Bird but Bird is trying to replace Bloomberg terminals…he is a classic operations bloke in the wrong job.
Hadn’t checked on this rubbish share for some time, shocking, I bailed out at 250 for a loss and put it to work in a Vanguard S&P tracker, thank god. This company is doomed, over 5 years the investors in their dog funds have averaged 1.5pc a year, before fees…..just terrible, yes brexit has massively damaged U.K./sterling and caused non stop outflows since 2016, but there had to be something very wrong with the merger, it’s a bit like when Halifax took down Lloyds which is still a penny share basket case. You just have to avoid U.K. shares now and dividend stocks are the pits, by for a return and lose half your capital, as Terry smith says, buy growth every time.
I invested in SL over 15 years ago and made the classic mistake of not selling up at the time of the merger when the share price was around the £5 mark. As posted here earlier I too hope for a takeover!
The ongoing situation is a disgrace.
Abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, is a global investment company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company manages and administers £496.3 billion of assets on behalf of its clients (as at 30 June 2023).
Abrdn's business model is based on three main segments: Investments, Adviser, and Personal. The Investments segment provides investment management services to institutional clients, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies. The Adviser segment provides financial advice and wealth management services to individual clients. The Personal segment provides savings and investment products to individual clients.
The company's business model has been criticized by some analysts, who argue that it is too reliant on a small number of large clients in the Investments segment. These analysts also argue that the company's Adviser segment is facing headwinds from the robo-advisor industry.
However, Abrdn has also taken steps to diversify its business model. In recent years, the company has acquired several businesses in the alternative assets space, such as infrastructure and private equity. The company has also been expanding its presence in Asia and other emerging markets.
Overall, Abrdn's business model has both strengths and weaknesses. The company has a strong track record in the Investments segment, but it is facing some challenges in the Adviser segment. The company is taking steps to diversify its business model, but it remains to be seen whether these efforts will be successful. GLA
Stephen Bird should go…then there would be a chance for this company’s SP to improve.
The man lacks any attributes of a successful CEO
I have had shares in standardlife for a long time. should have sold when where at 550. but kept buying in at 450. 350. 250 and 180. lost a small fortune. it was a big mistake merging with aberdeen. i was against it as lost a lot in aberdeen shares long ago, so never liked them.
Any likelihood ABRDN could be subject of a takeover?
I’ve held since SL days and very disappointed in the SP.
Staff to work from home. "A very sad day", says Martin Gilbert!
Nice to know someone of same age agrees -- have fun in York - hope canoe not necessary :D best wishes
Yorkshireman, I entirely endorse your sentiments. Pointless speculating as to what may or may not happen with this share or indeed any others. I have been with Abrdn (nee SL) since de-mutulisation back in 2006 and have modestly added since then. I gladly accept my bi-annual dividends as they add to my pension and enable me to get away a couple of times a year with my equally aged mates for a few days. We're off to York for 4 days next month for a friends birthday so may have to invest in a canoe before getting there!
Quite. The way share prices are rising 5% one day and falling 5% the next (ad infinitum) shows that Brexit has made the UK effectively an emerging market. The only people doing well out of our dismay are the hedge funds (£67bn profit last year). It's sickening and hate it all.
Everyone on here cannot give a honest opinion and forecast - rather than try to make money out of bending the truth or simply lying - but I fear it won't change - to be honest - I hold shares and hope they will improve in price and continue to give a dividend - that's all - simple -THE TRUTH
Probably now a fantasy?
Svend, If you are talking about the earnings forecast on Simply Wall Street, it is only £185m for 2026. Interactive is already generating half of that figure.
Having worked there for 9 months in 2021-2, it was clear that Bird has no strategy beyond flogging assets to get cash to continue the share buyback at inflated prices, hence the recent gains. Now that the buyback has stopped the shares are already halfway back to the September point if 155p. Bird was going to flog the active manager (about 70% of AUM) last year and they are trying to sell a commercial park in the Gyle (west of Edinburgh) for £126m at the moment. The line management is rubbish and HR are convinced that the new religion of "diversity" will save them. In a truly genius move just as they were replatforming, abrdn announced that the contact centre (somewhat key to two of the three vectors) was being sent to a desolate building in the Gyle, while the rest of the company stayed in a newly refurbished building in central Edinburgh - the result has been an exodus of experienced staff, just as they claimed to be recruiting 35 more staff and a net loss of AUA while almost everyone else was getting inflows. They proudly touted that a staff survey showed 70% backed Bird's strategy - assuming they knew what it was!
I think Bird is just trying to slim down to a Wealth Administrator, which will be taken over and he can retire with a nice cheque. The platform is supposed to be worth £1.4-1.7bn based on the figure being touted for Parmenion. Say ii is worth what abrdn paid (£1.5bn) and the rest of the business is not worth much by market assessment. Bird is almost at the end of his three year turnaround plan and not much has changed, due to a lack of strategy - as Panmure Gordon said last October following he break-up suggestion by Numis. The platform has fallen to the 8th most popular among IFAs and more platforms are coming, notably Scottish Widows.
As a middle manager, abrdn/Bird may have to take the risk of initiating the inevitable consolidation. I wondered about running the rule over the troubled Jupiter - it has a market cap of £480m, but does generate £45m in profit - about the same as ii did on takeover. Then there would be the savings from consolidating the fund management side. Even a total takeover cost of £600m would generate a 7.3% return, which is more than cash is earning now. I gather there is to be an emphasis on Emerging Markets - with a strong dollar and rising interest rates!