Danish tycoon Torben Ostergaard-Nielsen's holding company Selfinvest has revealed record profit for its last financial year.
But the tanker and bunker holding company will not see a repeat this year as coronavirus effects begin to be felt.
Middelfart-based Selfinvest, the owner of United Shipping & Trading Co (USTC), announced a net profit of DKK 839m ($126m) in the 12 months to 30 April, up from DKK 270m the year before.
Revenue grew to DKK 76.8bn, versus DKK 71.7bn.
"It is in every way a remarkable result, born of the fact that our companies have succeeded in taking advantage of the special market conditions the year offered," said founder and chief executive Ostergaard-Nielsen.
"This is particularly true in Bunker Holding Group but also for our tanker shipping company Uni-Tankers, which can deliver a good result on top of last year’s negative figures."
New blood
Last month, the owner brought in his two daughters, Nina Ostergaard Borris and Mia Ostergaard Nielsen, as co-owners of Selfinvest, as he sought to secure the company's future.
Selfinvest Family Office, which manages Selfinvest’s investment assets, followed a cautious investment strategy throughout the year and had already uncovered significant risk factors before the pandemic, it said.
Returns were well above industry averages, due to private equity and property investments, it added.
"We have the financial strength to grow and expand our market positions, and then we have an ongoing coronavirus crisis, a trade war and a collapsed oil price that makes the road ahead both clouded and unpredictable," the chief executive said.
"We therefore do not expect to reach the same excellent results for 2020/21, although I have to say that all of the group’s activities are strongly positioned for an exciting year."
Tankers getting younger
Product tanker company Uni-Tankers logged its best profit in four years at $2.2m, compared with a net loss of $28.2m in the previous year.
The company "is really beginning to see the impact of the last two years’ many initiatives aimed at bringing the business back into the black". Selfinvest said.
The full impact is still expected to materialise in the current financial year.
"The company’s fleet continues to move towards both younger and more modern ships and with a flexible composition of own and chartered ships, which also contributes to the positive expectations for 2020/21, where only the impact of the coronavirus crisis is a factor of uncertainty," Ostergaard-Nielsen said.
Last year, the company wrote down the value of its fleet to the current estimated sales value, a new long-term financing agreement was negotiated and the ownership of Uni-Tankers came back 100% into USTC’s hands.
"It's more fun to have the right colour showing on the bottom line," Ostergaard-Nielsen added.
Agency business expands
Fuel supplier Bunker Holding was tested by the US-China trade war, the lowest oil price in nearly 20 years and the Covid-19 pandemic.
It made a profit of $155m in the year, from $77.3m a year ago, but does not see earnings reaching that level in the current period, as world trade declines.
The group's ship agency business, SDK, has again delivered record profit, but the cruiseship agency operation was hard hit by the pandemic.
"The entire 2020 season is considered to be lost, which will also have an impact on expectations for the new financial year, which is already well underway," the company added.
SDK has bought five smaller companies during the past year, based in Odense and Esbjerg.
"The last few months have ... been an acid test of our business and the companies' strategies. We are not on the other side of the coronavirus crisis yet, but so far we have made it through satisfactorily," Ostergaard-Nielsen said.
