abrdn Rebrands to 'aberdeen' in Strategic Revamp

By Iain Withers and Sinead Cruise

LONDON (Reuters) -Abrdn said on Tuesday it would add back dropped vowels in its name after a widely-mocked rebrand four years ago and start a search for a new chair, as CEO Jason Windsor unveiled a strategy revamp for the embattled fund manager.

Windsor's update also ramped up targets for profit growth after the money manager's 2024 earnings beat analyst forecasts, driving shares up as much as 15% in early trading, on track for their biggest daily gain in five years.

Former finance chief Windsor has been tasked with reviving the British firm's fortunes after several tough trading years, squeezed by larger rivals like BlackRock and Vanguard snapping up customers with cheaper index-trackers.

The stock was last up 12% at 0937 GMT but remains about two-thirds down on its 2015 peak.

The investment group said it would now start to use 'aberdeen' as its principal trading name. It had changed its name from Aberdeen Standard Life in 2021 to 'abrdn', which led to widespread derision, adding to its problems.

Windsor told reporters the 'abrdn' brand had become a "distraction".

"We made a very small change in one respect, a big change in another," he said, adding the rebrand would not cost any money and had been done internally without any consultants' help.

Abrdn also said it would kick off a search for a successor to chair Douglas Flint, also a former chair of banking giant HSBC.

"With a board refresh also completed last year, it is now an appropriate time to commence the search for my own successor," Flint said, adding the process would start immediately.

REVAMP

Windsor cheered investors with a target to improve operating profit by at least 300 million pounds - or 18% - within two years, a move analysts at JP Morgan said would be welcomed by investors.

It reported adjusted operating profit of 255 million pounds ($324 million) for the year, up 2% on the prior year and narrowly beating analyst forecasts. It also announced an unchanged dividend of 14.6 pence per share.

The company said it had reached agreement with trustees of its defined benefit pension scheme to unlock some of the scheme's surplus to pay into its defined contribution scheme, helping boost capital generation by 35 million pounds a year.

Windsor told reporters he was committed to retaining the company's three core businesses - investments, adviser and interactive investor - amid long-running calls from analysts to explore a restructuring.

"We're very comfortable with this configuration, and I'm totally committed to making the best out of all three of them," he said.

In its interactive investor business, the company said it was targeting customer growth of 8% per year, while it was also seeking to book at least 1 billion pounds of net inflows into its Adviser business for 2026.

($1 = 0.7873 pounds)

(Editing by Christina Fincher)