abrdn (LON:ABDN) reported what Chief Executive Jason Windsor described as “a year of significant progress” in its full-year 2025 results, pointing to higher group profit, strong momentum in its Interactive Investor platform, and continued work to simplify the business and improve efficiency.
Windsor, speaking on a recorded media call alongside CFO Siobhan Boylan, opened by noting “heightened geopolitical uncertainty” tied to the conflict in the Middle East and said the company hoped it would be resolved quickly.
Profit growth and cost savings
The company’s cost savings plan also ran ahead of its goal. Windsor said abrdn exceeded its £150 million target, delivering £180 million of savings.
On assets, Windsor reiterated a previously disclosed update: assets under management and administration (AUMA) across the group rose 9% to £556 billion.
Windsor also highlighted staff engagement, saying the colleague engagement score increased by 10 points during the year, which he framed as important given the role of “talent and culture” in long-term performance.
Interactive Investor drives the largest share of profit
Interactive Investor (II) was the strongest performer in Windsor’s remarks, and he called it “one of the U.K.’s most exciting fintechs.” He said II delivered a “very strong” increase in profits and is now the company’s largest business, accounting for 59% of group profit.
Operationally, Windsor said II ranked as the number one direct-to-consumer platform by net flows for the second year running. He credited the “penny drop” marketing campaign—focused on the appeal of flat-fee investing—as a key success.
- Total customers increased 14% to half a million.
- SIPPs were the “biggest success,” growing 30%.
- Operating profit rose 34% to £155 million.
Windsor said II launched new pricing designed to provide “a simple set of options” and improve competitiveness.
Asked later about abrdn’s ambition to become the UK’s leading wealth and investment group, Windsor said the wealth business comprises Interactive Investor and Adviser, totaling about £180 billion. “Put those two together compares to anybody else in the market,” he said, adding it was “probably not far off number one already.” He said the company’s focus is not just scale, but also “performance,” “quality,” and “customer growth.”
Windsor added that growth at II was continuing into 2026, saying the firm was seeing “phenomenal growth” and was adding people and capacity, including working weekends, to maintain service levels.
Adviser: pricing reset and platform improvements
In the adviser business, Windsor said abrdn’s decision to cut prices had impacted profitability, but that the division still delivered £86 million of profit to the group during the year.
He said the focus has been on improving client service and enhancing the proposition. In December, abrdn launched an “integrated SIP” on the platform, which Windsor said improved the offering. He added he believed the firm had taken “the necessary actions” to improve service and position the business to “return to growth as quickly as possible.”
On platform strategy, Windsor said abrdn expects to bring its Elevate and Wrap platforms together, noting both run on FNZ technology and are “quite similarly serviced.” While Elevate has some additional functionality that some clients like, he said the company anticipates moving to a single platform and that a merger would “probably be done by the end of 2027.”
Investments: higher profit, stronger institutional flows, and real assets activity
In investments, Windsor said cost work helped support a 5% increase in profits to £64 million. He pointed to the strength of gross flows in the “core institutional franchise,” which were up more than 50% to £39.6 billion.
That growth, he said, was driven by strategic areas including:
- Fixed income
- Quant strategies
- Commodity ETF range
Windsor also said abrdn is building out its “sizable” real assets business. He highlighted a transaction with Stagecoach in which abrdn assumed responsibility for the company’s pension scheme, and said the group moved to take 100% ownership of Tritax (up from a previous 60% stake). He noted that Tritax Big Box REIT, which Tritax runs, entered the FTSE 100 on Monday.
On performance, Windsor said investment performance improved, with three-year investment performance now reaching 80%, which he said was ahead of the company’s target.
Outflows, transformation progress, and outlook targets
During Q&A, Windsor was asked about net outflows, with one questioner noting an increase from £1.1 billion to £3.9 billion. Windsor said the company would “rather it be an inflow,” but argued there was “a lot going on within those numbers,” including asset allocation changes for Phoenix, which he described as “quite low-margin stuff.” He said that in a business with more than £550 billion, the level of outflows “isn’t a cause for concern,” and added the company does not set a specific target for outflows in future years, emphasizing a preference for “high-quality product” and client outcomes rather than “volume for the sake of it.”
On the transformation and savings program, Windsor said the company is “about 90% through it,” with remaining work including completing steps tied to insourcing certain contracts and building internal capability. He said the company would move from a phase of cost reduction to one of cost efficiency.
Looking ahead, Windsor said abrdn remains committed to its 2026 targets, including adjusted operating profit of at least £300 million and net capital generation of around £300 million. He also introduced a new goal beyond 2026: to grow net capital generation by 5% to 10% per year on average, “absent any major market irregularities.”
On geopolitical risk, Windsor said abrdn has a “very small operation” in the Middle East. He said staff in the region were advised to shelter at home, and the company was taking steps to bring travelling colleagues home, typically via Saudi Arabia. On the broader economic impact, he said the situation was “very hard to call,” but the company’s “overriding view” was that it would not have a major impact on global growth, while acknowledging the conflict could be inflationary if it persists and could lead to spikes in oil and gas prices depending on duration.
In closing remarks, Windsor said the firm’s efforts over the past year leave it “in much better shape” as it pursues its ambition to become the UK’s leading wealth and investments group.
About abrdn (LON:ABDN)
Aberdeen is a Wealth & Investments group that connects investors to the expertise, tools, and solutions they need to grow and manage their wealth with confidence.
We are structured around three businesses – interactive investor, Adviser and Investments. As a diversified group, we have positioned ourselves for growth in a changing investment landscape.
As at 31 December 2025, Aberdeen manages and administers £556bn of client and customer assets.
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