Investment manager abrdn PLC on Tuesday reported its first increase in annual revenue since the merger that created the current company.

‘This was our reset year. In 2021 we set out a clear strategy for how we will create long-term sustainable growth and arrest the decline in revenue,’ said Chief Executive Officer Stephen Bird.

The Edinburgh-based firm, whose name is a shortening of Aberdeen, reported IFRS pretax profit of £1.12 billion in 2021, up 33% from £838 million, as fee-based revenue rose by 6.3% to £1.52 billion from £1.43 billion in 2020.

The rise in revenue was the first since Standard Life merged with Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017 to create, at the time, Standard Life Aberdeen, later changed to abrdn.

Bird said abrdn now will focus on delivering compound annual revenue growth in the high single figures. Cost-to-income ratio was 79% in 2021, and abrdn is aiming to improve this to 70% by the end of 2023.

Assets under management and administration grew by 1.3% to £542 billion at the end of 2021 from £535 billion a year before. The growth in AuMA was due to a positive investment performance. Net flows were negative £6.2 billion, improving from negative £29.0 billion in 2021.

abrdn kept its annual dividend unchanged at 14.6 pence per share.

‘Strategically, we have made huge strides forward,’ Bird continued.

‘We have simplified and extended the relationship with our largest client, Phoenix [Group Holdings PLC]. We have successfully rebranded as abrdn which gives us a unified global identity and purpose. We have divested non-core assets and built out our capabilities across our three vectors, including in private markets and digital content.’

At the end of January, abrdn sold 40.0 million shares in Phoenix, a 4% stake, for £264 million. abrdn continues to have a 10.4% stake in partner Phoenix, to whom it sold the ’Standard Life’ brand back in February of last year.

The CEO added: ‘Clearly, markets are volatile right now. Geopolitical risk and inflation are rising and there remains an element of uncertainty about the pace at which different economies are recovering from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.’

Bird noted abrdn’s agreement to buy retail investment platform interactive investor, saying the acquisition is expected to be double-digit earnings accretive in the first full financial year following completion.

abrdn shares were down 3.3% at 199.80 pence early Tuesday in London. The wider FTSE 100 index was up 0.2%.

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