Oslo-based shipbroker Lorentzen & Stemoco (L&S) has posted a deeper annual loss after a challenging year in 2019
Its annual report, which is now publicly available, shows a pre-tax loss of NOK 42m ($4.5m) last year against a NOK 17m loss in 2018.
The company reported negative book equity of NOK 44m at the end of last year, against positive equity of NOK 3m a year earlier.
L&S said it is in a solid position for continued operations, as shareholders have kept on injecting fresh equity into the firm.
“We are in full swing in turning things around at L&S,” said Christian Andersen, who took over as chairman of L&S a year ago.
He particularly stressed the progress the company is making in China, where it has an office in Shanghai.
The chairman also pointed to results in the company's sale-and-purchase business in Oslo, particularly in high-liquidity shipping sectors, as well as in the offshore business and its small dry cargo department.
Andersen returned to shipbroking by joining L&S in August last year, after having been ousted from John Fredriksen-controlled LPG company Avance Gas.
The broking firm was formed in 1994 after the merger of Stemoco Shipping and Lorentzen Chartering. L&S is now controlled by Otto Gregard Tidemand and his family.
