Abrdn clients pull £13.9 billion as the investment firm reduces workforce by 500

27 February 2024 , 09:25

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The investment firm Abrdn is in the midst of a major overhaul (Image: No credit)

Abrdn clients have taken out £13.9 billion as the investment firm starts to cut jobs this year.

The company, which provides a funds and wealth investment service, saw its loss before tax go down to £6 million last year, from a much bigger loss of £612 million. Last month, Abrdn said it would cut about 500 jobs to save up to £150 million.

The Edinburgh-based firm, which changed its name from Standard Life Aberdeen in 2021, will cut the majority of job this year and finish by the end of 2025. It also said some clients had taken their money out of the company, leading to £13.9 billion leaving the firm in 2023.

This resulted in a fall of money invested in the firm by 4% to £1.4 billion for the year. But the firm also spent less on running costs, which went down by 4%.

They also had other costs of £152 million because of changes and deals they made over the year. Stephen Bird, the chief executive of Abrdn, said: "Over the past three years we have reshaped the business to fit the modern investment landscape."

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"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."

Lawrence Matheson