Trading Update

ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC

TRADING UPDATE - NINE MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2016

Highlights

· Assets under management £301.4 billion (31 March 2016: £292.8 billion)

· Net outflows of £8.9 billion during the quarter, offset by £17.5 billion of asset appreciation

· Outperformance from equity capabilities year to date

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

"We continue to benefit from the diversified asset and client base of the business. Currency, exposure to a broad mix of assets and good investment performance outweighed the net outflows the business experienced this quarter.

"There are many uncertainties out there, including the shape of the UK's future relationship with the EU, which might undermine market confidence. We remain well placed to take advantage, on behalf of our clients, of any weakness and will continue to focus on fundamentals rather than be distracted by market noise."

Assets under management and flows

The principal movements are summarised in the following table. To provide additional clarity, we have set out separately the multi asset, quantitative strategies and alternatives asset classes which have previously been reported as components of our Aberdeen Solutions capability.

Market backdrop

The last week of June saw considerable market volatility as investors reacted to the result of the UK referendum on EU membership, with initial weakness in the days after the vote then overtaken by a strong recovery which has continued into July. The weakening of sterling against most major currencies, aided by resilient markets and good investment performance, has contributed to the increased value of our AuM. While the eventual shape of the UK's new relationship with the EU will inevitably remain uncertain until political negotiations follow their course, Aberdeen is well positioned operationally, with well-established and substantial businesses both in the UK and in Luxembourg.

The UK open-end property funds sector was particularly affected following the referendum, as investors' concerns about the impact on property values in London and elsewhere increased, and these concerns were exacerbated following the decision by competitor funds to suspend dealing. Aberdeen was well prepared for such uncertainty, with a high level of cash held within the UK Property Fund, the only Aberdeen fund with exposure to these issues. We introduced a week long suspension to enable our investors to consider the action we took to protect the interests of long term investors while enabling sellers to exit the Fund at a price more reflective of the short term market conditions.

New business flows and investment performance

The business recorded overall net outflows of £8.9 billion during the quarter. Net outflows from equities showed a small improvement on the previous quarter, partly reflecting investors' comfort with their current exposure to emerging markets. Equity investment performance has continued to recover strongly, as markets have again begun to favour the high quality stocks that populate our portfolios.

We have continued to expand our diversified multi asset offering. In June we launched the Aberdeen-Global Multi Asset Growth Fund in Luxembourg, which mirrors our flagship Diversified Growth Fund (DGF) in the UK. The DGF's differentiated approach and good performance continue to attract interest from pension funds and consultants, with further positive ratings confirmed this quarter.

We experienced a large outflow from alternatives in the quarter due to a change in strategy by an institutional investor in one of the recently acquired funds.

The property team won further new commitments for new fund launches, which will be realised in future periods. However, as we highlighted in the interim statement, the latest quarter has seen some withdrawals of Nordic mandates by institutional investors. 

Outlook

We expect some continuing volatility in UK and European equity markets as the political negotiations around Brexit proceed. However, broader equity markets have been reasonably resilient, as have other asset classes. Against this backdrop, our commitment to controlling costs and driving efficiencies in our business is undiminished.

We remain confident in our teams' ability to identify long term opportunities which will deliver positive long term outcomes for our clients across our range of investment capabilities.

For further information please contact:

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC

Martin Gilbert - Chief Executive +44 (0) 20 7463 6000

Bill Rattray - Finance Director +44 (0) 20 7463 6000

Maitland

Neil Bennett +44 (0) 20 7379 5151

Tom Eckersley +44 (0) 20 7379 5151

Management will host a conference call for analysts and institutions at 09:00 BST today

Participants:

Confirmation Code: 2455489

Local - London, United Kingdom: +44(0)20 3427 1919

National free phone - United Kingdom: 0800 279 5004

Or URL http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/zsk9dfyh

7 Day Conference call Replay:

Replay Passcode: 2455489

Local - London, United Kingdom: (0)20 3427 0598

National free phone - United Kingdom: 0800 358 7735

National free phone - United States of America: 1866 932 5017

ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT AT 30 JUNE 2016

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 9 MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2016

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 9 MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2016 - EQUITIES

NEW BUSINESS FLOWS FOR 9 MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2016 - FIXED INCOME