AUGUST 19, 2013 — London based shipping services giant Clarkson PLC (LSE:CKN) today released half year results for the period ended June 30, 2013 that saw revenues down slightly to £89.1 million (2012: £88.0 million).  Profit before taxation before exceptionals and acquisition costs  was level at £10.8 million (2012: £10.8 million.)

Andi Case

"Clarksons has delivered a resilient performance in the first half of 2013, achieved in global shipping markets which have seen significant challenges over the period," said Chief Executive Andi Case. "In these difficult times we have remained focused on the key elements of our strategy by developing our full service client offering, taking advantage of opportunities to strengthen our core broking teams with new hires and enhancing both our research product portfolio and support infrastructure.

"The industry outlook remains challenging with the continued focus on the spot market limiting visibility. However, despite these headwinds we continue to make good progress and are trading in line with expectations. As previously highlighted we expect to see a slight weighting in performance to the second half of this year, reflecting the delivery profile of our newbuild activities.

"Rates across many market areas in shipping have continued to experience downward pressure during the period and whilst this will not continue forever, significant signs of any upturn remain elusive in the short term, albeit as mentioned at the year-end there are now some early positive indicators which give encouragement in some of the markets. Despite this backdrop our broking teams have worked hard to successfully maintain their market-leading positions and continued to build volumes wherever possible. Once again, this breadth of product offer combined with the expertise and quality of our people has meant that wherever there are signs of improved activity we have been ideally placed to capitalize on them and have particularly seen strong performances from our offshore, tankers and specialized products operations."

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