UK shipbroker Braemar Shipping Services has outlined the importance of carbon trading and renewables to its growth ambitions over the next three to five years.
The London-listed company's chief executive James Gundy told TradeWinds that the two areas now have to be a major focus.
On the offshore renewables side, Gundy said the brokerage moved into this sector two or three years back.
"I've learned a lot about the business and have been involved in some projects," he said. "Germany is a good place, and Scandinavia. We have a presence in Germany with [financial division] Braemar Naves, that's an area we're looking at."
Gundy said expansion in this sphere will be a "building block" process.
"It's important," he added. "A lot of our clients — the big oil companies — have invested hugely in renewables and we ourselves will be doing that."
Carbon trading presence vital
TradeWinds has already reported on a number of shipbrokers setting up carbon trading desks as the focus on emission reductions increases.
Gundy said Braemar's operations are still in their early days, but it is talking to various clients about the topic.
He believes that for now, with hydrogen and ammonia fuels not yet ready, the obvious solution to decarbonisation is economical clean engines with slow steaming.
"Slow steaming will tighten the market," Gundy added.
Braemar also has ambitions to grow in the US, where it has a base in Houston handling small tanker business.
"We're looking at how to do that. It's a growth area for sure," Gundy said.
Expansion could be through acquisitions of businesses or broking teams, the boss explained.
Braemar is working on improving its balance sheet to fund expansion, after cutting debt to £10m ($13.9m) from £21m over the past year.
Pragmatic cash management
The bulk of the cash used for this came from the sale of half its stake in consultancy AqualisBraemar, formed last year by the sale of three of Braemar's four engineering businesses to Aqualis.
The final business, Wavespec, is close to being sold.
"We effectively doubled our money on AqualisBraemar," chief operating officer and finance director Nick Stone said. "The management is doing a really good job."
Debt reduction has also come from strong cash flow.
"There's no rocket science in it, just good sensible, pragmatic cash management and focus," he added.
There are no plans for any share issues.
Stone said: "But of course we are looking at investment and acquisitions, so you couldn't rule something out in the future."
