Aberdeen boss: closing Kaloo's EM fund would be 'last resort'

Aberdeen chief executive Martin Gilbert has said hard closing Devan Kaloo's Emerging Markets fund will be a measure of 'last resort'.

Speaking to analysts after Aberdeen Asset Management reported to investors, Gilbert said he was looking at ways of stemming flows used by other managers.

Aberdeen's onshore Emerging Market fund was roughly £6 billion in size when its soft closure was announced in February.

According to a note from investment bank Merrill Lynch inflows had picked up again during the fourth quarter, though Gilbert said these totalled roughly £5 billion for the year once the quiet summer months were taken into account.

But he added: 'We'd really like it to be down from that.'

Gilbert explained that although closing off some distribution channels had helped, flows were still not tailing off fast enough.

However when the chief executive was asked if a hard close on the fund was now an option, Gilbert said such a step could have unintended consequences.

'I think we would do anything but that.  It has consequences like people taking money out.  [A hard close] would be a last resort,' he said.

Revenue and profits up

In its final results for the year ended 30 September Aberdeen said it had been able to grow its revenue 11% to £869.2 million, up from £784 million.

The fund house also revealed its underlying profit before tax had jumped.   It rose 15% to £347.8 million, up from £301.9 million, over the year to 30 September, and over the same stretch assets under management climbed 10% to £187.2 billion, compared to £169.9 billion in 2011.

Although the year has been a successful one for the FTSE 100 firm, Aberdeen's chair warned the global economic uncertainty was far from over.

'It is perhaps unwise to anticipate an end to the uncertainty engendered by the global economic and political backdrop,' Roger Cornick said.