05/10/2007

SLI's Growth & Income Fund Renamed UK Equity High Alpha Fund

Leading fund manager, Standard Life Investments today announced that the Growth & Income Fund, one of the fund managers' highly successful UK equity funds, is to be re-launched under the name of the UK Equity High Alpha Fund. The fund, which has been top decile over 1, 2 and 3 years and top quartile over 5 and 7 years*, will assume its new name as from 15 th October 2007.

Jacqueline Kerr, Head of Mutual Fund Investments at Standard Life Investments, said:

“Our decision to rename this fund has been taken primarily to more accurately reflect the focus of the fund which is to maximise returns for investors.

“The fund will continue to invest in a diverse range of UK equities, holding between 70 to 110 stocks at any one time and it will sit within the IMA UK All Companies sector. It remains suitable for investors who wish to participate in the potential growth opportunities afforded by investing in an actively managed portfolio of mainly UK equities. Furthermore, the diversified nature of its portfolio makes it suitable for investors wishing to achieve a broad spread of UK equity exposure.

“The UK Equity High Alpha Fund sits comfortably alongside our broader range of award wining** UK Equity Funds. It is a stock-picking fund that takes full advantage of the robust UK Equity Team process and its performance to date vindicates its recipe for success.”

Edward Legget, who has managed the fund since October 2006 and will continue to manage the fund under its new banner, is also responsible for analysing the Chemicals, Electronics, Engineering and Transport sectors. He said:

“The mandate of this fund is to invest across the FTSE All Share investment universe and this consequently allows us to make full use of the UK Equity team process to identify and invest in attractive opportunities wherever they appear within the market. Over the last few weeks for example, the fund has used the uncertainty surrounding the credit markets as an opportunity to increase holdings in selected UK financials at attractive prices.”

* Morningstar, bid to bid for the period to 1 st October 2007

** In August 2007, Standard Life Investments UK Equities team was named 'Citywire Team All Stars Asset Group Winner - UK Equities' and 'Citywire Team All Stars Sector Winner - UK All Companies'

In May 2007, Standard Life Investments won the ‘Active UK Equity Manager of the Year' title at the Pension & Investment Provider Awards (PIPA) 2007.

Standard Life Investments won the title of 'Investment Manager of the Year' and 'Specialist Manager of the Year (UK Equities)' at the UK Pensions Awards 2007.

Standard Life Investments scooped two 'Best Overall Group Awards' at the Lipper Fund Awards 2007 in the 'Equity Large' and 'UK Equity Large' categories. The awards recognised the consistently strong risk-adjusted performance of our funds relative to our peers over the three year period up to 31st December 2006.

Notes To Editors

•  Retail charges for the UK Equity High Alpha Fund: Initial – 4%, annual management charge – 1.25%. Institutional charges: initial – 0%, annual management charge – 0.75%. Retail commission: Initial – 4%.

•  Retail minimum lump sum investment - £500. Retail minimum regular investment - £50.

•  Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns and you may get back less than you invested.

•  With assets under management of £140.6billion Standard Life Investments is one of the UK's major investment houses and controls around 1.9% of the UK stock market (30.06.07).

•  Standard Life Investments was launched as an investment management company in 1998. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Life Investments (Holdings) Limited, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Life plc.

•  Standard Life Investments operates in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong and the USA, and has representative offices in Germany, France, South Korea and Beijing. Standard Life Investments also operates in India through a joint venture, HDFC AMC.