The global shipping market is recovering, slowly but surely, which has helped the world's largest shipbroker, Clarkson, (CKN) report half-year results marginally ahead of analysts' expectations. The group benefited from China's renewed focus on manufacturing, along with expansion in the US, Japan and parts of Europe. The business is now entirely debt free and wants to put its cash to use by expanding its global footprint and hiring new talent.
Management was optimistic that recent challenging market conditions in the global shipping sector – largely the result of a protracted supply and demand imbalance since the 2008 financial crisis – could soon turn around. Fewer new ships are being built which has helped to address capacity concerns, while the Baltic Dry Index (which assesses the price of moving raw materials by sea) saw a 100 per cent year-on-year improvement. Global volumes of shipping containers are also expected to expand by around 4.8 per cent to 190m 20-foot equivalent units by the end of the year.
Analysts at Liberum expect pre-tax profit of £48.9m in the year to December, giving EPS of 114.2p, compared with £44.8m and 105.2p in FY2016.
| CLARKSON (CKN) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 2,684p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 811m | |
| TOUCH: | 2,672-2,684p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 3,033p | LOW: 1,910p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.5% | PE RATIO: | 21 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,346p* | NET CASH: | £71.4m | |
| Half-year to 30 June | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 147 | 17.5 | 41.7 | 22 |
| 2017 | 157 | 21.9 | 50.8 | 23 |
| % change | +7 | +25 | +22 | +5 |
| Ex-div: | 07 Sep | |||
| Payment: | 22 Sep | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £294m, or 973p a share | ||||
