Clarksons raised its full-year profit guidance after a very strong late summer of trading, driven by geopolitical volatility that elevated freight rates to record levels in some markets.
The world’s largest shipbroker said performance in August and September had been robust, with ongoing geopolitical complexity creating volatility across commodity and freight markets.
Record freight rates in some areas had fed through into higher ship values, benefiting its core broking business, whose revenues came in significantly ahead of expectations while adding to its forward order book. Its financial division, which provides investment banking to the shipping sector, also beat expectations after completing a number of transactions.
As a result, Clarksons said it now expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year to 31 December to be no less than £135m. It cautioned that the trading environment remained very volatile, but said its long-term investment in its platform left it well placed to capitalise on market conditions.
Clarksons shares were already 34% higher on the year ahead of today’s upgrade.