Standard Life 2017 Interim Results
Assets under administration (AUA) increased by 1% to £361.9bn. Gross inflows were resilient at £20.7bn
(H1 2016: £21.8bn) but redemptions increased to £24.4bn (H1 2016: £20.9bn) resulting in net outflows of £3.7bn.
Growth channels AUA up 3% to £244.0bn with net outflows of £0.6bn, including £5.6bn from GARS, offset by an increase of 32% in net inflows into other products to £5.0bn (H1 2016: £3.8bn) including:
o Institutional and Wholesale benefiting from client and channel diversification with net inflows ex. GARS of £1.2bn (H1 2016: £1.2bn)
o Workplace and Retail net inflows of £4.2bn (H1 2016: £2.8bn) included record net inflows on to our adviser platforms driving total platform AUA up 11% to £49.2bn (FY 2016: £44.2bn)
Third party funds above benchmark over 1 year: 85%; 3 years: 74%; 5 years: 85%
Revenue growth and continuing focus on financial discipline
Fee based revenue up 5% to £836m with growth channels revenue up 7% to £616m (H1 2016: £577m)
Cost/income ratio stable at 62% (FY 2016: 62%) and excluding 1825 and Elevate down 1ppt to 60%
Operating profit before tax up 6% to £362m driven by 13% increase in profit excluding spread/risk6
Generating cash and realising value to drive sustainable growth and returns to shareholders
Underlying cash generation up 1% to £256m and strong holding company cash position of £0.8bn (FY 2016: £0.9bn; H1 2016: £0.8bn)
Announced proposed IPO of our Indian associate HDFC Life with offer for sale of up to 5.43ppts of our 35% stake
Interim dividend per share up 8.2% to 7.00p
Well positioned for the next phase of our transformation to a diversified world-class investment company
Proposed merger with Aberdeen Asset Management PLC ("Aberdeen") expected to be effective on 14 August 2017
Combined leadership teams working well together to ensure full business readiness for "Day 1"
Keith Skeoch, Chief Executive, commented:
"Standard Life has delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2017 with fee based revenue up 5% and operating profit up 6%. We continue to see the benefits of targeted investments to further our diversification agenda, the success of our newer investment solutions and the ongoing focus on operational efficiency. This has allowed us to grow assets, profits, cash flows and returns to shareholders.
"With the proposed merger with Aberdeen on track for completion on 14 August we are ready to accelerate the pace of strategic delivery as we open the next chapter of our transformation to a diversified world-class investment company. The combined leadership team of Standard Life and Aberdeen has been working well together to ensure "Day 1" readiness. We are well placed to continue to meet changing client and customer needs globally, and to generate growing and sustainable returns for our shareholders."
