Shipping firm Clarksons swings to £10.5m loss
Shipbroker Clarksons swung to a £10.5m loss for 2019 after a one off impairment charge relating to buying Norwegian rival RS Platou ASA.
Clarksons wrote down the goodwill from the deal by £47.5m which pushed into the red for the year.
In 2018, the company had posted a £32.7m profit.
“2019 delivered robust underlying financial results and strong free cash flow generation, which has enabled us to increase the dividend for the 17th consecutive year,” said boss Andi Case.
Company shares are trading down 4.61 per cent per cent at 2,275p.
The company has also reported a loss per share of 42.4p, compared to 2018’s 98.8p earning.
Dividend per share has risen modestly over this period from 75 to 78p.
Group revenue rose almost seven per cent from £337.6m to £363m.
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“An excellent performance in our broking, support and research businesses offset weakness in our financial services business, Case added.
“Clarksons has a strong balance sheet and a leading market position across most verticals in shipping and offshore.”
Case pointed out the company had a stronger order book at the start of this year than in 2019.
Coronavirus impact
However, he did acknowledge coronavirus could damage the company’s performance for the first half of the year though overall, confidence remains.
This comes on the day oil prices hit a four year low with the largest single fall in almost thirty years.
The volatility was caused by coronavirus and the Russo-Saudi price war which drove Brent crude to $31 a barrel, later recovering to $36..
This has added to the existing uncertainty caused in the world economy by the outbreak with several sectors reporting disruption.