Lorentzen & Co is slashing its Oslo shipbroking desk after showing the board a disappointing set of preliminary 2022 results.
Six to eight of the 16 Oslo shipbrokers will have to go.
But executive chairman Christian Andersen told TradeWinds he will not be eliminating any of the shipping sectors Lorentzen covers.
Andersen said brokers were informed of the decision this morning, and he has been in individual meetings with staff since then.
“We don’t know exactly how many yet,” he told TradeWinds.
“We’re not closing down any sectors, and we are trying to achieve the cost cuts by reaching voluntary agreements rather than having to take more dramatic steps.”
The firm had several departures in the second half of 2022, but Andersen said those were cases of talent being headhunted rather than leaving in expectation of cuts.
The payroll cuts will not affect the Shanghai office, which is focused on ship finance, or its small dry bulk chartering operation in New York.
The Oslo office is focused on sale and purchase and associated financial work across traditional shipping sectors, as well as offshore and renewables.
“Our brokers team up to cover deals across different sectors. So although it’s clear we will be thinner in some places, we will just have to work harder,” Andersen said.
Andersen was hired in 2019 after a prolonged period of weak results, culminating in a loss of NOK 64m ($6.3m at current rates) for 2019. Last year’s loss was NOK 9m.
“That is a good development, but not good enough. The company’s poor results are not sustainable,” he said in a prepared press release. “Management is obliged to make changes.”
Separately, he commented to TradeWinds: “When I came in here and took this position, my task was to turn things around and make it profitable.
“We have had improvement year on year, but had a setback last year, and when the board was shown the first estimated profit-and-loss figures a week-and-a-half ago, it decided there would have to be changes.”
Andersen himself will be remaining in his position, he confirmed to TradeWinds.
Lorentzen & Co dropped the Stemoco from its name a year ago following a tidying up of the group corporate structure.
The Oslo brokerage and its sister shipowning company Eastern Bulk are controlled by Caroline Figenschou Tidemand and Kristin Tidemand Eckhoff, who are fourth-generation descendants of founder Jorgen Lorentzen.
