MARKET REPORT: Shipbroker Braemar sinks after annual results delayed

Shipbroker Braemar suffered its worst day in more than two decades after it said it will miss the deadline to publish results amid an investigation into its accounts.

The company, which advises clients on matters such as choosing the best routes to transport oil to finding ways of reducing emissions, said figures for the year to the end of February will not be published by Friday because of a probe into a £2.4million transaction dating back to 2013.

‘The board is not presently comfortable with the manner in which the transaction has been historically represented and the remaining liability recorded in the company’s balance sheet,’ it said.

Braemar has drafted in the professional advisory firm FRP to help with the investigation.

The results will be delayed until the probe is finished, with Braemar unable to meet the regulatory deadline of June 30.

Probe: Shipbroker Braemar advises clients on matters such as choosing the best routes to transport oil to finding ways of reducing emissions

As a result, it will ask for its shares to be suspended from trading next Monday. Shares tumbled 19.7 per cent, or 55p, to 224p – its biggest fall since 1999.

It was not all doom and gloom, however. Braemar expects to report record results for the year to the end of February, with revenues of at least £150million and profits ‘not less than’ £20million.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Auditors have apparently flagged concerns. 

This will have sideswiped investors given that only in February the company reported a two-thirds surge in pre-tax profits and there were expectations it would be well ahead of previous guidance.’

The FTSE 100 fell 0.1 per cent, or 8.29 points, to 7453.58 and the FTSE 250 was down 0.5 per cent, or 87.66 points, to 17,974.67.

AO World made gains after Mike Ashley’s fashion empire increased its stake in the online electrical retailer for the second time this month. 

Frasers Group bought an 18.96 per cent stake, worth £75million on June 12. Days later it raised this to 21.33 per cent and has increased its holding again to 22.19 per cent.

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Group revenue rose 5.6 per cent to £34.8million in the 12 months to the end of March.

Profits fell 29 per cent to £5.4billion but it raised its final dividend from 5.1p a share to 5.5p.

And the company said store sales in the first 11 weeks of the new financial year were up 5.4 per cent on a year earlier.

Shares, which listed at 108p on June 27, 2018, gained 3.2 per cent, or 4p, to 131p but remain well below their peak of 426p in November 2021.

Shore Capital analyst Bradley Hughes said: ‘We believe that Frasers is a business evolving to engage more with younger and more internet-savvy cohorts, perhaps therefore the AO stake provides an opportunity to breathe more life into their Studio Retail acquisition.’

The group will next week publish its results for the year to the end of March.

Shares in AO World, up nearly 70 per cent this year, gained 1.3 per cent, or 1.1p, to 85.5p while Frasers Group was up 0.4 per cent, or 3p, to 686p.

But Frasers’ spree did not end there. Last week it built up a stake of 8.89 per cent in Currys and yesterday raised this to 10.39 per cent. 

Meanwhile, Whitbread rose 1.7 per cent, or 54p, to 3325p after HSBC raised the target price to 4700p from 4200p.

But Lloyds fell 0.9 per cent, or 0.36p, to 41.96p after JP Morgan downgraded the bank to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ and trimmed the target price to 42p from 56p.

In a bleak note to clients, the broker expects interest rates to peak at 5.75 per cent and cut its earnings forecasts for UK banks on the belief they could come under mounting political pressure ahead of next year’s general election.

The mood was slightly better at Cranswick following a vote of confidence from RBC, which increased its rating to ‘outperform’ from ‘sector perform’ and lifted the target price to 4000p from 3400p.

The analysts pointed towards the group’s long-term growth opportunities, including its entry into pet food. Shares rose 2.2 per cent, or 70p, to 3270p.

Elsewhere, North Sea gas producer IOG jumped 24.1 per cent, or 1.01p, to 5.21p after it fixed issues at its Blythe H2 well.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk