(Bloomberg) -- Aberdeen Asset Management, Europe’s largest publicly traded moneymanager by assets, reported 20.4 billion pounds ($32 billion) of outflows in the full year as investor sentiment toward emerging markets waned.
Net outflows were up from $3.1 billion in the year through September 2013, the company said in a statement today. Assets under management increased 62% to $402 billion, boosted by the purchase of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. The Aberdeen unit had $19 billionof net outflows in the period, with a single client withdrawing about $4.9 billion of “low margin assets,” it said.
“The first half of the year was particularly demanding, as investor sentiment turned sharply against emerging market economies,” Chief Executive Officer Martin Gilbert, 59, said in the statement. “Recently we have seen those concerns abate and outflows from our Asian and emerging market funds have moderated.”
Aberdeen, which invested a majority of its assets in global emerging markets and Asia-Pacific, has lost about 10% in London trading this year. By comparison, shares of competitor Ashmore Group have slumped 23 percent.
The firm increased underlying profit before tax 1.6% to $608 million in the period while net revenue rose 3.6% to $1.3 billion. The firm raised its final dividend to 11.25 pence apiece from 10 pence in 2013.
Aberdeen agreed to buy SWIP from Lloyds Banking Group for $695 million in November 2013 to create Europe’s largest publicly traded money manager.
