Braemar Shipping Services chief executive James Gundy is "putting his neck on the line" by announcing the London shipbroker's intention to double its core business in the next four years.
But the CEO told TradeWinds: "There's nothing wrong with a bit of pressure."
"We're in the public arena, and being in the public arena means you have to grow," he added.
Gundy took over the group at the start of this year, and has set about reducing debt and stripping away non-core operations to prepare for both organic growth and acquisitions.
The boss admits that two years ago even he would have been hard pressed to explain to outsiders what Braemar was trying to achieve, but now the business has been streamlined.
"I came in with a plan to grow the core business," Gundy said.
"The first strategic plan was to come in and sort out the mess, then go forward," the boss added. "That's now where we are."
Leveraging the London listing
Gundy explained that the idea is to use the currency of its listing to expand.
"What is the point of being on the market if you're not going to use your currency to grow? If we wanted to be private, that's a different matter," he said.
"Before, we were laden with debt, the share price was going nowhere, but now we've gone the other way," Gundy added.
And the CEO said: "I've got to believe I can build the business. With being in the market for 40 years, since I was a nipper — I've got relationships to build a business now."
Chief financial officer Nick Stone said the doubling of the business would be measured by profit not revenue.
A key area of expansion is the Americas, in tankers, dry cargo, derivatives, offshore and renewables, sale and purchase and finance.
Braemar is strong in tankers in the Middle East, but otherwise there are plenty of opportunities there as well. The company is also looking to grow in derivatives and offshore and renewables in Europe.
Stone said that the company "has identified one or two potential ideas" in the Americas.
Expansion will be through a combination of taking in teams from other brokers and buying smaller businesses.
Braemar has not been as focused on containerships as it has tankers and bulkers, but it is very strong in finance deals and S&P in the sector.
Expansion here is also something the company is looking at, Gundy explained, with plenty of expertise within Braemar already.
And Gundy told TradeWinds: "I'm not the first broker to mention it, but we believe there's going to be consolidation in the market."
The CEO also believes that, over the next few years, a big acquisition deal is possible for Braemar.
Nothing of this size is imminent, he added, but smaller transactions are on the cards, with targets identified.
