Liberum hikes target price for Clarkson, stays at 'buy'

In particular, they noted management's fresh guidance for full-year underlying profits before tax of £65m, against consensus for £56.1m.

That drove a 20% upwards revision to the broker´s estimates for Clarkson's earnings per share in 2021, a 16% revision to 2022 and a 15% revision to 2023.

"This reflects a balance between the challenge of building on a record year and the potential for the current shipping market strength to

become the long-awaited structural rebalancing," analyst Gerald Khoo explained in a research note sent to clients.

"Demand, underpinned by growth in both global GDP and world trade, remains resilient. The growth in supply of shipping capacity remains restrained, curbed by diminished ship yard and ship finance capacity. All other things being equal, this points to structural upward pressure on shipping rates."

The practical result was a jump in Liberum's discounted cash flow-based target price, from 3,850.0p to 4,470.0p.

Khoo kept his recommendation for the shares at 'buy'.