Braemar Shipping Regulatory News (BMS)

Braemar Shipping Services plc (the "Company" or the "Group")

Annual Report and Notice of AGM

The Company has today published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 29 February 2012 ("Annual Report"), together with the Notice of Annual General Meeting ("AGM") (together the "Documents"). The AGM will be held at the Empire Room, The Landmark Hotel, 222 Marylebone Road London NW1 6JQ at 12 noon on 20 June 2012.

Copies of the Documents have been posted to shareholders, who have requested hard copies, and will be available on the Company's website www.braemarplc.com. Copies of the Documents have also been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: www.Hemscott.com/nsm.do 

The Company announced its preliminary results for the year ended 29 February 2012 on 8 May 2012. The preliminary results announcement included a condensed set of financial statements and extracts from the management report. That information, together with the Appendix to this announcement, which contains additional information which has been extracted from the Annual Report, constitutes the material required for the purposes of compliance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules and should be read together with the preliminary results announcement, which can be downloaded from the Company's website at www.braemarplc.com. 

This announcement should be read in conjunction with and is not a substitute for reading the full Annual Report. Page and note references in the appendix below refer to page numbers and notes in the Annual Report.

18 May 2012

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Appendix

The following statement is an extract from the Notes to the Accounts and may be found in full on page 32 of the Annual Report:

Certain statements in this annual report are forward-looking. Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The principal risks and uncertainties are set out in the Annual Report. The full and unedited text relating to these disclosures are set out below:

Market risk

The markets in which the Group operates are influenced by many factors some of which are on-going by nature (e.g. economic factors such as world trade and the demand for commodities) and others of which are one-off (e.g. geo-political events and extreme weather). The Group seeks to mitigate its exposure to any one driver or event by maintaining a presence in most bulk shipping markets and by investing in a variety of shipping and energy services businesses.

Reputational risks

We view the Group's reputation with existing and potential clients, staff and other business partners as critical to the on-going success of the Group. Management seeks to ensure that staff are properly managed, trained and informed so that they can provide a high quality service to clients. The Group also seeks to adhere to all applicable laws, regulations and ethical standards.

Operational risksThe key operational risks are:

- Departure of key teams or staff which is managed through staff contracts and long and short-term incentive arrangements and the monitoring of market practice,

- Staff errors and/or omissions, for which the Group carries separate professional indemnity insurance,

- The failure of financial controls which is monitored by management reporting and oversight and other checks including internal audit; and

- The failure of support services such as communications systems and public utilities for which the Group maintains business continuity plans and back-up procedures.

Foreign exchange risk

Much of the Group's income is earned in US dollars and therefore changes in the US dollar rate of exchange relative to the currencies in the countries where the Group operates (principally the pound sterling) can have an effect on the reported results and net assets. The Group has a policy of hedging some of this exposure to limit the effect of currency fluctuations and does so by entering into treasury instruments with banks.

Liquidity risk

The Group maintains an overdraft facility of £8.0 million with the Group's principal relationship bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland plc. The Group reviews the institutions with whom cash resources are held and has funded its operations from internal resources.

Credit risk

The Group is exposed to risk of non-payment by a trade debtor including the concentration of credit risk within market sectors. We consider the risk to be reduced due to the breadth and diversity of the Group's customer base. Management monitors the level of outstanding trade receivables regularly following up to ensure appropriate steps are being taken to collect debts ona timely basis.

A review of risks affecting all areas of the Group is prepared for consideration annually by the Audit Committee and appropriate actions are taken to address the risks identified.

Directors' responsibility statement

The following statement is an extract from the Report of the Directors contained on pages 17 to 18 of the Annual Report, and is repeated here solely for the purpose of complying with Disclosure and Transparency Rule 6.3.5. Responsibility is for the full Annual Report not the extracted information presented in this announcement and the Final Results announcement:

Each of the Directors, whose names and functions are listed on page 16 confirm that, to the best of their knowledge:

• the Group financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Group and the Company; and

• the Chief Executive's review and the Financial review include a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Group and the Company, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that it faces.