Where now for Aberdeen AM as performance starts to turn around?

Sentiment reversal towards emerging markets

Aberdeen Asset Management has undoubtedly felt the full force of recent brutal emerging market sell-offs. The firm has suffered 11 consecutive quarters of outflows, with some £30bn pulled from its funds, while its share price plummeted 59% from a peak of 508p in April 2015 to 209p on 11 February 2016.

Although last month marked 25 years since the company floated on the London Stock Exchange, the firm was demoted from the FTSE 100 index to the FTSE 250 in February, as investors worried about performance issues and the group's EM focus. This is despite recent attempts to diversify through acquisitions including DFM and platform firm Parmenion, and US hedge fund provider Arden.  In the new year's trading session, the asset manager was also among the most shorted UK stocks by investors including Odey Asset Management and BlackRock. However, the first quarter of 2016 has been stronge...