By Simon Jessop
LONDON (Reuters) - Aberdeen Asset Management (L:ADN) was among the top blue-chip gainers on Monday after posting a jump in managed assets, boosted by a stronger investment performance and a slowdown in the pace of outflows.
After watching clients rush to the exit amid emerging market volatility earlier in the year, the London-listed fund manager said that sentiment had improved recently to help to lift assets to 331.2 billion pounds from 322.5 billion at the end of June.
That figure was boosted by market performance that added 7.9 billion pounds in assets between June and August, while foreign exchange effects added a further 2.5 billion pounds.
The pace of money leaving its funds, meanwhile, slowed to 1.7 billion pounds from the 8.8 billion pounds in the three months to June 30, it said in trading update on Monday, ahead of its results for the full-year to Sept 30, which are due on Dec. 1.
"Our equity capabilities are recovering, both in terms of performance and flows following a tough 2013," Chief Executive Martin Gilbert said in a statement, adding that the company remains cautious on the outlook for markets because of geopolitical problems.
Goldman Sachs said the results were broadly in line with expectations and rated the stock a "buy", noting that while the pace of outflows had not slowed as much as it had hoped, higher-margin equity products had achieved better than expected flows.
SOLID FOUNDATION
The broader market's response was positive in early trading, with Aberdeen stock up 1.3 percent to 404.8 pence a share, the third-top gainer in a marginally weaker FTSE 100 index (FTSE).
Elsewhere, the company said its integration of SWIP, the funds business bought from Lloyds Banking Group (L:LLOY), was on track and that the increased scale and breadth of the group's business gave it a solid foundation to weather volatile markets.
That focus on expanding its non-equity product line-up was gaining traction, particularly in terms of property and emerging market debt, Gilbert added.
Emerging market debt and property products each contributed net inflows of more than 1 billion pounds in the first 11 months of the financial year, Aberdeen said, while outflows from the legacy SWIP business slowed to 700 million pounds.
The company said it had also expanded its pipeline of new business wins across a range of product areas, including equities, fixed income and property, though it did not provide a figure.
(Additional reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by David Goodman)