(Alliance News) - Clarkson PLC on Monday announced increased profit and revenue in "another record year", and expressed optimism about its short, medium and long-term prospects.
The London-based provider of integrated shipping services said that for 2023, pretax profit rose 8.2% to an all-time high of GBP109.2 million from GBP100.9 million in 2022.
Underlying basic earnings per share rose 9.9% to 275.0 pence from 250.3p.
Revenue, meanwhile, rose 5.9% to GBP639.4 million from GBP603.8 million. Clarkson attributed this to "responsible treasury management" and "strong growth in our Broking, Support and Research divisions". It added that its strong performance was "despite all the disruptions to shipping faced throughout the year".
The company declared a final dividend of 72p per share, up from 64p the year before. This raised the total payout by 10% to 102p from 93p, making 2023 its 21st consecutive year of dividend growth.
"2023 was a year of disruption in the maritime markets and I am enormously proud we have achieved another record year," said Chief Executive Officer Andi Case. "The business today is a reflection of two decades' investment in our strategy, and we are confident in our outstanding team, our breadth of market-leading services, our technologies and our geographic reach to meet the growing needs of our clients in a world which is ever more complex.
Clarkson also boasted a "record" forward order book of USD217 million or around GBP171.2 million for 2024, up from USD216 million last year.
"We are optimistic for Clarkson in the near, medium and long-term future," Case commented, adding that the firm is "unwavering in [its] commitment to growth" and the order book "gives us growing forward visibility and the confidence to continue to invest in our capabilities across the business".
Shares in Clarkson were trading 3.4%% higher at 3,800.00p on Monday morning in London.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Clarkson (CKN)