Sale talk sparks Aberdeen share rise

Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management swapped his suit and ipad for decorators’ overalls and a paint roller on Friday as he joined colleagues to take part in Global Volunteering Day as shares in the multi-billion company he founded rose two per cent after he hinted there had been a great deal of interest expressed in buying the company.

Speaking to the Bloomberg news agency, he said: “I’ve never tried to sell the business but we do get a lot of people wanting to buy us.”

Mr Gilbert explained that interest had come from businesses in Europe and Australia.

There has been talk Aberdeen could attract bid interest following the sharp fall in its share price over the past year, and earlier this month Aberdeen said clients withdrew £16.7billion net of new business in the first half.

Profits fell to £99 million in the six months to 31 March, from £185m over the same period last year.

Mr Gilbert went on: “So far, we have managed to resist. There’s been a lot of interest, but being independent is a massive benefit to us.”

He added: “Asset management is a great business because the return on capital is so high, it’s profitable and it’s predictable, so there has been a lot of interest.”

The latest comments were quickly followed by a statement from the company claiming that no formal approach has been made and follow previous, similar denials.

They came as Mr Gilbert took part in the Give and Gain project which saw him joined a team of seven from different departments at the company’s headquarters in Aberdeen to give a facelift to the Tivoli Theatre as part of the firm’s commitment to a day of volunteering which stretches around the world. Meanwhile, staff from the Edinburgh office volunteered with the Scottish Association for Mental Health at the charity’s Redhall Walled Garden.

Aberdeen also held a “volunteering relay” involving 300 employees from 18 offices across the globe which began in Australia with the staff at the firm’s Sydney office before moving to Taipei and Singapore and finishing the day in Toronto, Philadelphia, New York and Sao Paulo.

Mr Gilbert said: “As a company we are committed to the communities in which we operate across the globe and we recognise our responsibility to make a positive impact in the places in which we live and work. I’m delighted to be lending a hand to bring The Tivoli, which is described by the Theatres Trust as ‘one of Britain’s most important theatre’ back to some of its former glory. As well as the creation of the Aberdeen Charitable Foundation, which formalises and develops our philanthropic activities, we actively encourage, promote and support our staff in their own giving and volunteering. Although days like Give and Gain Day are important to highlight the importance of employee volunteering, we have a commitment to the power of employee volunteering and we have a scheme which gives each member of staff two paid days annually for voluntary work. We also support individual staff fundraising initiatives and we encouraging payroll giving.”

Meanwhile, Phil Webster, who worked for more than a decade at Aberdeen, most recently as senior investment manager on the pan-European equities team, has left to join BMO Global Asset Management as portfolio manager across a number of its European equities funds.

Webster will report to David Moss, who leads the £3.5bn European equities team at BMO.

Mr Moss said Mr Webster has an “excellent performance track record in pan-European equities”.