Clarksons has booked its best-ever results for the first half of the year, aided by strong performance from its shipbroking activities.
The London-listed company reported increased net profit before tax of £52.2m ($66.4m), equivalent to 130.5p in earnings per share. This is up from £42.0m a year ago when Clarksons earned 98.5p per share.
Profit from Clarksons’ Broking division totalled £58.2m, up from £47.0m in the same period last year. The group said this reflects a margin of 22.6%, roughly flat with a year ago.
Revenue grew to £321.1m from £266.7m year on year.
The interim dividend rose by a penny to 30p per share, which means Clarksons is now in its 21st consecutive year of paying distributions to shareholders.
Chief executive Andi Case said: “I am pleased to report an outstanding result for Clarksons in the first half of 2023, which reflects the continued momentum in the business and effective execution of our strategy as we help clients navigate the changing markets.
“I have great confidence in the outlook for Clarksons, which has been built to maximise value from the global mega-trends of the green transition, digitalisation and ever more complex global trade dynamics.”
Clarksons now has free cash resources of £128.2m available for future investment, down from £130.9m at the end of 2022.
Clarksons said it was maintaining its expectations and had confidence in the medium-term outlook.
“We have benefited from the breadth of Clarksons’ offering through the first half with demand/supply balance and the impact of other external factors being very different in each of the verticals within shipping and offshore,” it said in its interim report.
“While mindful of the currency headwinds and softening rate environment, which are expected to result in a more balanced split between the first and second half, our expectations for the full year are unchanged.”
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