Pre-close Trading Update

ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC

PRE-CLOSE TRADING UPDATE

In advance of entering a close period ahead of the announcement of interim results for the six months to 31 March 2013, Aberdeen provides the following trading update.

·; AuM at 28 February 2013: £212.3 billion (31 December 2012: £193.4 billion)

·; Net new business inflows of £3.5 billion in the two month period under review

·; Continued net inflows to higher margin pooled funds - will add £35 million of annualised fee income

·; Further action taken to moderate new business inflows to global emerging market equities

·; Refinancing of perpetual capital securities at lower coupon of 7.0%

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

"We have seen another positive period for Aberdeen with continuing investor interest in a range of our products, complemented by two infill transactions announced in February.

Despite the strong start to the year for markets generally, economic problems remain and the investment environment is likely to be challenging for some time to come. However, we believe our fundamental approach to investing will continue to serve our clients well over the long term."

Assets under management at 28 February 2013 totalled £212.3 billion, a 10% increase on the total at 31 December 2012, as reported in our latest Interim Management Statement. The principal movements are as follows:

Gross new business flows for the two months to 28 February 2013 totalled £9.5 billion, bringing the total for the five months year to date to £20.3 billion (five months to 29 February 2012: £14.4 billion). We recorded net inflows of £3.5 billion for the two months to 28 February 2013, resulting in net inflows of £4.6 billion for the five month period (five months to 29 February 2012: net outflow £1.4 billion).

Net inflows to our global emerging market ("GEM") equities products have again been extremely strong. As we have highlighted before, we are intent on moderating the rate of inflows to ensure, for the benefit of existing investors, that the quality of these products is not compromised. We communicated in early February that we would close our US-domiciled pooled funds to new investors and we gave notice of the introduction of a 2% initial charge on new investments into our Luxembourg and UK-domiciled pooled funds. In the short period since implementation of these measures, we have seen a considerable reduction in inflows to our GEM strategy and we believe that net inflows in future periods will be at more sustainable levels.

We have also seen strong net inflows to our Asian equities capabilities, including increased interest in our Japanese and Chinese equities funds, as well as continuing flows into our emerging market debt products. Multi-asset flows have again been positive and in property we have recently been awarded new mandates totalling £0.3 billion which we expect will be reflected as inflows during the second half of our financial year.

As in 2012, new business inflows have been predominantly to pooled funds, with outflows more evenly spread between pooled funds and segregated mandates; the effect on revenue is therefore positive, with the net flows for the two month period adding approximately £35 million of annualised fee income.

Investment performance remains good, with our long term focus continuing to deliver outperformance against benchmarks through changing market conditions.

We also completed a $500 million issue of 7.0% perpetual cumulative capital securities. The proceeds of this issue will be used to repay the existing 7.9% perpetual capital securities and the new securities will form part of the Group's regulatory capital going forward. 

We retain a note of caution in our global market outlook, despite the strong start to 2013. Nevertheless, we believe we are well placed to achieve further organic growth, which will be supplemented by additional AuM when the Artio and SVG Advisers transactions are completed in the second half of our financial year.

The announcement of the company's interim results for the six months to 31 March 2013 will be made on 29 April 2013.

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

Tom Eckersley

ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT AT 28 FEBRUARY 2013

OVERALL NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 5 MONTHS TO 28 FEBRUARY 2013 - BY MANDATE TYPE

OVERALL NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 5 MONTHS TO 28 FEBRUARY 2013 - BY ASSET CLASS

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 5 MONTHS TO 28 FEBRUARY 2013 - EQUITIES

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 5 MONTHS TO 28 FEBRUARY 2013 - FIXED INCOME

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 5 MONTHS TO 28 FEBRUARY 2013 - ABERDEEN SOLUTIONS