Pre Close Trading Statement

ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC

PRE-CLOSE TRADING UPDATE

In advance of entering a close period ahead of the announcement of results for the year to 30 September 2011, Aberdeen provides the following trading update.

Assets under management at 31 August 2011 totalled £176.9 billion, a 4.8% decrease on the total at 30 June 2011, as reported in our latest Interim Management Statement. The principal movements are as follows:

Markets have been particularly volatile in recent weeks, as concerns about the Eurozone debt crisis and its impact on the global financial system have intensified. Against this background, it is not surprising that we have seen some slowing of gross inflows, but there has been no increase in the rate of outflows and we have continued to see encouraging net inflows from key products.

Gross new business flows for the two months to 31 August 2011 totalled £6.1 billion, bringing the total for the 11 months year to date to £39.9 billion (11 months to 31 August 2010: £42.7 billion). A further £1.7 billion of new mandates were awarded but had yet to fund at 31 August. We recorded net outflows of £0.8 billion for the two months to 31 August 2011, resulting in net outflows of £0.8 billion for the 11 month period (11 months to 31 August 2010: net inflow £1.0 billion).

Our disciplined investment philosophy and processes have delivered robust performance across our core equity capabilities in the recent volatile markets. The benefits of this consistent performance are reflected in further net inflows from our most consistent equity capabilities - global emerging markets, which remains closed to new segregated business, added £0.5 billion and global equities £0.3 billion in the two months to 31 August.

In fixed income, both Asian and emerging market debt portfolios are performing well with good long term track records which are reflected in healthy net new business wins for both these strategies - our emerging market debt capability has added £0.4 billion and Asian debt a further £0.2 billion in the period under review, and we have seen further inflows during September. Elsewhere, US and UK fixed income strategies continue to make progress towards attaining outperformance against the three year benchmarks, although mandates with short durations versus benchmark have underperformed over the summer as US and UK government bond markets rallied.

In property, our assets continue to perform steadily and we have enjoyed small inflows and renewed investor interest in our regional funds as well as some early interest in potential global property products. 

Our alternative investment strategies have seen small net outflows, but performance continues to be solid and we remain confident of the potential for this capability in the medium and longer term.

The trend of improved management fee margins has continued, benefiting from ongoing inflows to our higher margin pooled funds. With ongoing control of operating costs, we have also seen a consequential increase in operating margin and the profit for the current financial year will be at the top end of analysts' forecasts (current range £262 million - £297 million).

As previously reported, we repaid $125 million of 7.2% subordinated notes in early July from available cash resources and since then we have continued to build the net cash position in our balance sheet.

Whilst we expect that market volatility and uncertainty will remain a major theme for the foreseeable future, our business model, range of capabilities and diverse client base means we are in a strong position to continue the Group's profitable growth.

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, commented:

"Given the economic backdrop in Europe and the US and heightened market volatility during the last two months, Aberdeen's new business flows have been resilient. We have seen a continuation of the trend into our higher margin pooled funds. Importantly, investment performance has also been robust, during a period of macroeconomic uncertainty. This bears testament to the merits of our conservative approach and the quality of our investment teams around the world.

"There is no easy resolution to Europe's sovereign debt problems and the expectation is for anaemic economic growth in the West for some time. However, Aberdeen's approach and broad product range means we are well placed to meet the needs of our clients around the world in this difficult environment."

The announcement of the company's results for the year to 30 September 2011 will be made on 5 December 2011.

For further information please contact:

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC + 44 (0) 20 7463 6000

Martin Gilbert

Bill Rattray

Maitland + 44 (0) 20 7379 5151

Neil Bennett

Rowan Brown

ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT AT 31 AUGUST 2011

OVERALL NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 11 MONTHS TO 31 AUGUST 2011 - BY MANDATE TYPE

OVERALL NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 11 MONTHS TO 31 AUGUST 2011 - BY ASSET CLASS

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 11 MONTHS TO 31 AUGUST 2011 - EQUITIES

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 11 MONTHS TO 31 AUGUST 2011 - FIXED INCOME

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 11 MONTHS TO 31 AUGUST 2011 - ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES