Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 4062V

Braemar Shipping Services PLC

12 January 2012

 



BRAEMAR SHIPPING SERVICES PLC

("Braemar" or "the Group" or "the company")

12 January 2012

Interim Management Statement

Braemar Shipping Services plc today issues its interim management statement in relation to the period since the announcement of the interim results on 25 October 2011.

Over the past few months activity in the Shipbroking division has increased. The Group has seen good levels of spot chartering business particularly in deep sea tankers and in capesize bulk carriers. The specialised tanker chartering desks are also performing well, having secured long term contract business and good prospects of increasing their transaction volumes in the new financial year, beginning 1 March. Our second hand sale and purchase and demolition business has been more active than in the summer, stimulated by the fall in the value of middle-aged ships in most sectors. Overall Braemar's markets are entering a new phase where principals are adjusting their operations to fit market conditions, and this greater certainty should be positive.

The Company is making good progress in bringing its technical businesses together as a single unit, trading as Braemar Technical Services. There are already clear signs of much closer interaction within the division and when full integration is achieved, the engineering and surveying teams will be deployed more efficiently. Braemar's marketing capability in the Far East, Europe and North America will thereby be enhanced. In recent months, the Company has won several important new engineering projects and the level of surveying appointments has also been encouraging.

The Logistics division has been performing well. Ship agency is making substantial inroads in the highly-competitive UK market and continues to grow in Singapore. The freight and project forwarding arm is continuing to expand its customer base and is delivering improved results. The cruise ship agency and tours business had a reasonable summer in 2011 and bookings for 2012 have been strong on the back of the London Olympics.

The Environmental division, which specialises in dealing with oil, chemical and marine pollution incidents, has been engaged in the salvage, processing and cleaning of the containers from the vessel "Rena" which ran aground off New Zealand in October 2011. The salvage work will continue well into 2012. The Braemar team is made up of personnel from the Environmental and Technical divisions who fulfilled a similar role in respect of the "MSC Napoli" off the coast of Devon in 2007.

All of the Group's divisions have been busy over the past three months with the overall performance of the group showing an improvement compared with the earlier quarters of this financial year.

For further information, contact:

Braemar Shipping Services Alan Marsh James Kidwell	Tel [phone] Tel [phone]
Pelham Bell Pottinger Damian Beeley Zoë Pocock	Tel [phone] Tel [phone]
Elaborate Communications Sean Moloney	Tel [phone]
Arbuthnot Securities James Steel Henry Willcocks	Tel [phone] Tel [phone]

Notes to Editors

Braemar Shipping Services plc is a leading international provider of broking, consultancy, technical and other services to the shipping, marine and energy industries. The business is organised into the following segments:  Shipbroking, Technical, Logistics and Environmental. It is listed on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in the Industrial Transport sector.

Principal businesses:

Shipbroking

Braemar Seascope provides chartering, sale and purchase and consulting shipbroking services to international ship owners, charterers and financial institutions operating in the tanker, gas, chemicals, offshore, container and dry bulk markets. There are shipbroking offices in the UK, China, Australia, Singapore, India, Italy and Monaco.

www.braemarseascope.com

Technical

Braemar's Technical division provides a range of specialist marine services to the maritime sector. The business is being brought together under the brand name Braemar Technical Services. The activities of the division under the original brand names are as follows:

Adjusting (Braemar Steege): Specialist loss adjusting and other expert services to the energy (oil and gas), marine, power and other related industrial sectors. It has offices in London, Houston, Singapore, Calgary, Lima, Mexico City and Miami.

www.braemarsteege.com

Marine, Offshore and Engineering (Braemar Falconer): specialised marine and offshore services. It has offices in the UK, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

www.braemarfalconer.com

Marine (Braemar Technical Services incorporating The Salvage Association): Braemar acquired the business and assets of BMT Marine and Offshore Surveys Limited on 9 May 2011 - the business now operates as Braemar Technical Services providing marine consultancy and surveying services to the shipping, energy, offshore and insurance industries.

www.braemarsa.com

Engineering (Wavespec): consultant marine engineering and naval architecture services to the shipping and offshore markets. A new office in Houston was opened in 2009.

www.wavespec.com

Engineering (Braemar Casbarian): provides consulting engineering services to the offshore industry from offices in New Orleans, Houston and Trinidad. Acquired by Braemar in July 2011.

www.casbarianeng.com

Logistics

Cory Brothers Shipping Agency provides port agency, freight forwarding and logistics services within the UK and Singapore.

www.cory.co.uk

Environmental

Braemar Howells provides pollution response and advisory services primarily in the UK and Africa and is continuing to develop an international presence.

www.braemarhowells.com

 

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