ACM Shipping

Shipbroker ACM Shipping, focused on the wet tanker market, has sailed in with forecast-busting annual results to March.

On turnover increased almost 30% to $51m (£31m), ACM produced a 62% surge in profits to £8.9m, boosted by a nine month contribution from last summer’s Harris & Dixon acquisition as well as US$ strength relative to sterling. ‘We are very pleased with these figures’, commented CEO Johnny Plumbe, adding that ‘we had a stonking year and expanded our broking team globally’.

Boasting global reach, via offices located in London and Singapore, as well as in Mumbai and Shanghai, the company’s core spot brokerage business continued to take market share, concluding 1,350 spot fixtures, up 19%, last year.

In time charter, where ACM has more than a hundred tankers out on charters ranging from 3 months to 11 years, the order book was maintained at more than $25m. Tougher trading was experienced in the credit crunch hit sale and purchase business, which matches ship buyers and sellers and represents less than 20% of group revenue. Cash generative and debt-free, ACM finished the year with almost £5m of net cash, enabling the board to up the total dividend by more than 40% to 8.5p.

Future growth should come from global expansion, notably in Asia, where oil consumption is growing, as well as the exploitation of new shipping sectors.

This year, lower profits and earnings of £6.4m and 26.5p are predicted, ahead of £7.1m and 29.3p for 2011. Trading on budget forward multiples of 7.1 and 6.4 respectively and offering a healthy yield, ACM shares are a buy.