Braemar Shipping Services has had to postpone its full-year results again as auditors grapple with “complex transactions” carried out near the cut-off point for the accounts.
The London-listed shipbroker said trading in the new financial year that began on 1 March continues to be “very strong” and ahead of management expectations.
The group said it is benefiting from its increased scale and current favourable market conditions.
The annual results were first due towards the end of May, but this was pushed back to 4 July.
Now Braemar said the announcement has been delayed again, with no set date revealed.
It explained that the board’s strategy, introduced by the new management team led by chief executive James Gundy, has been to streamline the business to focus on its shipbroking core.
“This refocus has resulted in a number of corporate transactions and … the complexities of these transactions have led to the completion of the year-end audit taking longer than anticipated,” it said.
The main sticking point is the agreement to sell Cory Brothers that was announced on 1 March.
The buyer is Vertom Cory Holdings for a price of between £10.25m and £15.5m ($12.3m to $18.6m), spread over three earn-out periods ending on 31 December 2024.
The all-cash deal will see a first payment of £6.5m, and three more instalments based on future profit.
The disposal marked the end of Braemar’s strategy of simplifying its services.
Forecasts strengthened
The broking and financial advisory group has been busy making updated profit forecasts in recent months, however.
In May, it said it was ahead of analysts’ forecasts for its current financial year.
Underlying operating profit is expected to be at least £12m in the 12 months to 28 February 2023.
Guidance for the year that ended in February 2022 remained at £9.8m or above, slightly higher than consensus, following a March update.
The group made £7.7m in the 12 months ending February 2021.
Profit forecasts exclude specific acquisition and disposal-related items from the Cory deal.
