We regret to announce that we have removed the 'A' ratings of the Aberdeen World Equity and Aberdeen World Equity Income funds, following a prolonged period in which the funds have failed to meet their respective performance objectives.

Both funds are managed by the same investment team and have tended to be structurally underweight the US equity market which can, and has, understandably been a headwind at times. However, this, and our concerns over their developed market stock-picking abilities, has historically been offset by our positive view on the firm's core competencies within Asia and Emerging Markets. Unfortunately, this positive view has been under pressure more recently and as such we have lost conviction in the team's ability to be able to meet their stated objectives, to the point where we feel we can no longer recommend the funds to clients.