Stephen Bird

The firm has said it plans to cut 500 roles within its business. This move aims to restore the firm’s core investments business to an acceptable level of profitability and allow for incremental reinvestment into growth areas.

Abrdn plc has also provided an update on its year-end 2023 assets under management and administration (AUMA) including second half 2023 net flows, and revenue margin guidance. Going forward, abrdn intends to provide the market with a trading update, including AUMA and net flows, for the first and third quarters of the year.

Stephen Bird, CEO abrdn plc, said: “Market conditions have remained challenging for our mix of business, and this is reflected in our
year-end AUMA, flow numbers, and margins.

“The board and I are committed to taking these significant cost actions now to restore our core Investments business to a more acceptable level of profitability.

“Although our business model benefits from the diversification that comes from operating three businesses, we will not rest until all of them are contributing strongly to group profitability, as adviser and interactive investor have done in 2023.”

Mr Bird continued: “The new transformation programme announced today, when completed, will deliver a step change in our cost to income ratio. We exceeded our £75m cost reduction target for 2023 for Investments, but we recognise more needs to be done.

“After a root and branch review, we are now reengineering and simplifying our business model to remove at least £150m of costs – mostly from group functions and support services. The programme will largely be implemented in 2024, completing in 2025. These changes will allow us to continue our focus on building a growth business.”