Harry Nimmo will retire from abrdn and the industry at the end of 2022, concluding a 37 year career with the firm.
Born in Edinburgh in 1957, Nimmo graduated from Dundee with an MA in Geography and went on to complete an MBA in Surveying at Edinburgh in 1984.
He joined Standard Life shortly afterwards as an investment analyst for the UK equity funds team and became an investment manager for the group in 1993.
Nimmo took on the Standard Life UK Small Companies fund when it launched in January 1997 and now runs a portfolio comprising around 50 firms.
As for the changes following his departure, Abby Glennie will remain as a manager on all UK Smaller Companies products, joined by Amanda Yeaman, who will be promoted to deputy with effect from 1 January 2023.
Glennie has been working with Nimmo on the funds for almost seven years, having been named co-manager in November 2020.
There will be no change to the overall leadership structure, with Andrew Paisley continuing to lead the smaller companies team, supported by Glennie as his deputy.
“Whilst we are sad to see Harry depart the business, the process and strong team culture that he helped develop will remain firmly in place,“ stated a spokesperson for abrdn.
“Smaller Companies represents an area of strategic focus for abrdn, and we are confident that the team will continue to deliver attractive long term returns for investors, using their unique investment process which has been tried and tested through several economic cycles.
“We want to take this opportunity to thank Harry for his outstanding contribution to the business over the past 38 years, and wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”
Andrew Paisley, head of smaller companies at abrdn, said: “It has been a privilege to work with Harry over the last 8 years and I would like to thank him for his collegiate, team based approach which has ensured that we have in place a disciplined process and an extremely well-resourced team that will continue to implement our highly successful quality, growth and momentum approach.”
Nimmo added: “I would not have stayed at abrdn for more than 37 years if I hadn’t enjoyed myself working with many colleagues that have become friends.
“I value stability and continuity highly, both in our Investment process and in providing a robust framework that will enable our small/midcap strategies to deliver continued long-term performance for our clients long after I have gone.
“We have been preparing for my departure for some years now with a view to making the transition as seamless as possible.”
Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre, commented: “Harry has been one of the most successful UK smaller companies managers over the past three decades.
“However, this is a great example of good succession planning - Harry used to be head of the small cap team which has been restructured for some time and he has continued to work with the fund managers on a gradual transition.
“We believe Abby Glennie is a very good fund manager in her own right, she has been part of the team for a long time and managed her own funds independently of Harry very successfully.“
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