https://investegate.co.uk/standard-life ... 00055000W/
Standard Life Aberdeen plc ("the Company") today announces its intention to change its name to "Abrdn plc". The new Abrdn name (pronounced "Aberdeen") will be part of a modern, agile, digitally-enabled brand that will also be used for all the Company's client-facing businesses globally.
The new brand identity marks the next stage in the reshaping of the business and future-focused growth strategy. ...
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Stephen Bird, Chief Executive, said:
"Our new brand Abrdn builds on our heritage and is modern, dynamic and, most importantly, engaging for all of our client and customer channels. It is a highly-differentiated brand that will create unity across the business, replacing five different brand names that have each been operating independently. Our new name reflects the clarity of focus that the leadership team are bringing to the business as we seek to deliver sustainable growth."
As I've seen others comment elsewhere, there's something not quite right about a new brand if you need to tell people how to pronounce it! Somewhat more alarmingly, I see distinct signs there that the company has swallowed some bait set out by a corporate adviser hook, line and sinker - e.g. spouting the phrase "future-focused growth strategy" as though growth strategies come in any other variety...
Anyway, apart from letting off that bit of steam, the main point of this post is just to alert HYPers who own shares in the company to the fact that this name change, and I would guess an accompanying symbol change, seems pretty likely to go through in the next few months. It's likely to have some practical impact on their record-keeping...
Gengulphus