YCO Group

Yacht services company YCO Group is sailing towards recovery as revenues improve amid an upturn in the luxury boat business.

The AIM-quoted company, which handles yacht sales, management, chartering and yacht fuel brokerage, returned to pre-tax profits of £31,000 last year on turnover of £24.7m, after losing £684,000 in 2008.

Steered by chief executive officer Charlie Birkett, a former yacht captain, London-based YCO has offices in Monaco, Barcelona and Antibes, France. The company also provides a concierge service for owners in the exclusive yachting business, where Birkett maintains that there are only 500 to 1,000 people worldwide that can afford the company's services.

He says that YCO Group has clients from the Gulf region and Russia, as well as the USA and Europe and has identified China as offering possible opportunities.

House broker Arbuthnot Securities forecasts pre-tax profits of £400,000 on sales of £26.7m for the current year, with earnings of 0.6p a share, making no allowance for future profits on the unpredictable, but sometimes lucrative, yacht brokerage business. Though well down from their 28p year's high, the tightly held shares have already rallied from a 6.75p low to 15p, and still offer speculative potential.