Companies and economies around the world continued to feel the effects of the coronavirus-enforced lockdowns during the second half of 2020. Investment Week reports on how they have done since then.
Standard Life Aberdeen
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) saw its profits fall by a third in its first-half results as revenue fell, but redemptions from its strategies fell to the lowest level since the firm's blockbuster 2017 merger.
SLA said adjusted profit before tax slipped to £195m in H1 2020, 30% lower than in H1 2019, at £280m, largely reflecting lower revenue. Its fee-based revenue fell 13% to £706m, from £815m.
However, the firm did see the lowest amount of redemptions in more than three years, at £38.1bn. Combined with gross inflows of £38.2bn, the firm recorded net inflows of £100m, excluding expected tranche withdrawals from Lloyds Banking Group customers.
SLA added that its balance sheet remains strong, allowing it to maintain its interim dividend payment of 7.3p.
In his final half-year results as CEO, Keith Skeoch said that, after a "comparatively short-lived" contraction phase of the Covid-19 crisis, he expected "an element of recovery as restrictions are lifted".
"Nevertheless, the long-term consequences of the crisis will be profound, including a longer-term loss of output, labour market scarring, lower real interest rates, and an altered balance between monetary and fiscal policy," Skeoch added.
"There are both challenges and opportunities arising in the current environment. As an active asset manager we can play an important role in society during the recovery, meeting the evolving needs of clients as they plan their financial futures.
"Through our Platforms and Wealth channel, we can help people plan for their financial futures through our savings and investment products. As active asset managers we can continue to meet the evolving needs of our clients across a broad range of asset classes, strategies and solutions.
"While the revenue outlook remains challenging for the industry, we will continue to focus on what we can control. We will continue to diversify our revenue and reshape our cost base to ensure it is future fit.
"Although the future is unpredictable, we believe that our mix of customers and channels, continued investment performance, enduring relationships, geographic spread and financial strength will enable us to continue to demonstrate resilience in periods of ongoing uncertainty."
Hargreaves Lansdown (full year)
Hargreaves Landsdown pulled in net inflows of £7.7bn in the 12 months to 30 June as its assets under administration grew 5% to £104bn, according to annual results published today (7 August).
The platform business saw revenues grow 15% on the same time last year to £551m as underlying profit before tax grew 11% to £340m, boosted by a £39m gain from the sale of Funds Library.
Strong financial performance was reflected in the growth in diluted EPS of 27% to 65.9p, while the total dividend per share was boosted by 31% to 54.9p.
HL also saw an 188,000 increase in new active clients to 1,412,000 as the firm consolidated its market leading position in the direct to consumer platform market at 41.1%, and saw its share of the execution-only stockbroking market rise to 39.5%.
CEO Chris Hill said: "Our priority has remained our colleagues and clients throughout this challenging period and I am proud of how we have responded. We have not furloughed our employees, enacted any redundancy programmes or sought any Government assistance.
"The acute challenges of this year have reinforced the importance of resilience for us all and we will continue to have a key role in helping our clients build resilience into their savings and investments to enable themselves to be confident to manage through difficult periods and events.
"Our focus on clients, the trusted relationships we have with them and the investment we have made to broaden and strengthen our proposition, means that we are strongly positioned to help our clients navigate through these unprecedented times.
"It also provides us with confidence in our ability to deliver sustainable and attractive growth and returns beyond the immediate period of uncertainty."
