Abrdn boss lands 26% pay rise to to £2.1m despite fund manager suffering an investing exodus

Abrdn’s boss has won a 26 per cent pay rise to £2.1m, even as the fund manager cuts hundreds of jobs and suffers an exodus of investors.

Chief executive Stephen Bird’s salary as fund manager for 2023 included £1.1m in bonuses, up 68 per cent on the previous year.

This was despite another year of losses for the beleaguered business, although at £6m, these were down from £612m in 2022. Abrdn suffered net outflows of £13.9bn, up from £ 10.3 billion pounds.

Bird said the broader industry had been affected by the “higher for longer” interest rate environment.

Abrdn has suffered years of clients withdrawing cash and a falling share price after it was formed from a merger between Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life in 2017.

At the time, the combined company was worth £11bn and had £670bn in assets under management.

Its value has since fallen to less than £3bn and it now manages assets of less than £500bn.

Bird, who took over in 2020, is trying to turn around the company’s fortunes by cutting jobs (a cull of 500 was announced last month) and reducing its range of funds.

The company has also been expanding into mass-market retail investing, purchasing online platform Interactive Investor in 2022.

Yesterday, Bird insisted his plan was working, saying the company was “better positioned for future growth.”

Share It swung wildly with the results, rising almost 8 per cent in early trading before falling and ending the session up 3.3 per cent, or 5.3p, at 156.2p.