A brief insight into the mind of Martin Gilbert

Aberdeen Asset Management has been expanding interntionally this year on the back of against-the-odds success. But the firm's chief executive Martin Gilbert remains attached to its (old) office in the granite city.

Aberdeen's final year results to September 2009 appear to have defied market conditions. Credit Suisse's fund management business has been successfully integrated, assets under management have jumped from 111.1bn in 2008 to 146.2bn now, and operating profit is only 4% down on last year.

Money Observer has provided an interesting insight into the mind of Martin Gilbert, and reveals him to be slightly superstitious about the prospect of continued success.

For instance, the firm has just moved into a new Aberdeen HQ, but Gilbert is reluctant to upsticks: "I am not moving - I will probably end up being there [in the old office] by myself."

Then there's the suggestion that having won Scotland Entrepreneur of the Year is something of curse. "I didn't go to the awards ceremony because I didn't want to win," he said.

Aside from (possibly) not walking under ladders, he also revealed how Aberdeen's equities team - led by Hugh Young - has managed to outperform the market.

"Hugh is an incredibly good fund manager," said Gilbert. "He does not panic, is incredibly disciplined and incredibly lazy - it's too much hassle to buy and sell."

Still, it hasn't been all plain sailing at Aberdeen Asset Management this year. In 2009, the company embarked on a cost-reduction programme which necessitated job cuts.

Although the firm doesn't break out staff numbers in its results, 'exceptional costs' related to redundancy and other non-recurring expenses came to 17.8m in 2009 compared to 10.2m last year.