Shipping services group Clarkson continues to ride the global economic recovery to great effect and the FTSE 250 is raising profits guidance for 2021 for the second time in two months.
AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould said: “The shares are sailing back toward their all-time highs although analysts are forecasting that profits will sag slightly in 2022 through to 2023, presumably due to the view that 2021 was a bit of a freak year owing to the global supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic. But the shares could steam higher if the global economic recovery proves stronger than expected, emission regulations further tighten supply in the shipping market and Clarkson’s customers continue to adopt its Sea/ technology platform.
“Clarkson is more than just a ship-broker. The company continues to develop value-added services such as research data and financial services, to help smooth out the effect of the shipping cycle, and its latest innovation is its Sea/ service, which enables clients to monitor fleet performance, book vessels and pay for them, all on the same platform.
“Strong performance in broking prompted chief executive Andi Case to upgrade profit forecasts in both December and now January but the financial services arm has done well, too. Management now expects underlying pre-tax income to exceed £69 million, against prior expectations of £65 million and 2020’s £44.4 million.”