16th May 2016 07:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Braemar Shipping Services PLC on Monday saw its pretax profit surge higher in its financial year to the end of February on lower one-off costs, though underlying performance also proved strong despite some challenging market conditions.
Braemar said pretax profit grew to GBP9.9 million from GBP5.1 million the year earlier, when it booked much higher one-off costs. Underlying operating profit for the year, which strips out one-offs and acquisition-related costs, grew to GBP13.8 million from GBP11.5 million.
Revenue rose 9.0% to GBP159.1 million from GBP145.8 million, as the group's push to diversify its operations helped to offset challenges in some of its markets.
Shipbroking performed well in the year and was significantly ahead on the year before, driven by strong tanker markets. Braemar's Technical arm also trading in line, despite taking a hit from wider macroeconomic pressures weighing on key markets, while the Logistics business had a challenging year, though though improve going forward.
"Braemar had a good year and achieved a strong, resilient performance despite some challenging shipping and energy markets. Our full-year results showed a significant improvement on the prior year, demonstrating the success of our strategy to diversify and grow the group," said Chief Executive James Kidwell.
Braemar will pay an unchanged 17.0 pence final dividend, meaning its total dividend will also be flat at 26.0p.
The company said it anticipates its markets will "continue to experience volatility and uncertainty", but the balance of its portfolio will allow the group to offset weakness in some markets elsewhere.
"While there are likely to be market swings which affect our individual businesses, overall we expect the group to achieve a broadly similar level of activity in the coming year," Braemar said.
The stock was up 1.1% at 458.00 pence early Monday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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