Noble & Company navigated this tanker broker onto AIM at the tail end of 2006 by way of a £7.6m placing, giving an exit for certain shareholders.

The numbers to September provided no surprises, coming so swiftly after the AIM admission, with chief executive Johnny Plumbe charting strong operational and financial growth. Highlights included turnover of £7.5m (£6.8m), operating profits just shy of £1m, and a rise in pre-tax profits to £1.17m (£433,000).

ACM claims to be ‘one of the most productive and profitable’ ventures in the industry – it is a shipbroker with a focus on the global oil tanker market. In short, it arranges spot freight, time charter, and ship sale and purchase, broking to an international customer base. AIM should help the group capture a larger share of its chosen shipping markets and will also help to incentivise senior brokers.

Forecasts commissioned by the company from research house Edison suggest profits could swell significantly higher to £4.2m in the current year to March, from sales of £14.7m. The following year, investors might expect a move to £4.8m pre-tax from a top-line of £16.1m.

Earnings for 2007 and 2008 respectively are estimated at 16.85p and 19.4p, with income of 6p and 6.8p, placing ACM on modest forward multiples of 11 and 9.5, with very healthy yields of above 3% for the next two years, at what looks to be a highly cash-generative concern. We would argue that the shares, which have trekked north from the 162p issue price, have strong appeal given ACM’s impressive long-term trading history. Buy.