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UK-based world's largest shipbroker, arranging ship chartering, sale & purchase, and providing maritime finance/research.
UK-based world's largest shipbroker, arranging ship chartering, sale & purchase, and providing maritime finance/research.
Earns commission on chartering deals and ship sales, a percentage of the deal value, so income depends on how many ships are fixed and at what freight and asset prices; volatile markets raise broker activity. Clarksons Research sells data subscriptions, and the 2015 merger with RS Platou of Norway added Oslo-based investment banking.
In one line: The world's largest shipbroking firm.
Moat: narrow (network effects, brand, scale). Largest global shipbroking network with deep relationships across owners and charterers.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1852 · Employees: 2,314
Size Clarkson (CKN.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Marine Shipping) with a market value of $1.90B, the 165th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £4,570 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 5.2%, against +3.9% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 9th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 15.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +7.3%); the operating margin is 13.5% (peer median 27.9%).
Valuation It trades at 13.9× forward earnings against a peer median of 7.3× (3rd most expensive of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 5% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +12%, so the hurdle is -7 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 15.8 points above its cost of capital (12.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 8 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £747M | £631M | £661M | £639M | £604M |
| Revenue growth | — | -5% | +3% | +6% | — |
| Gross profit | £697M | £586M | £622M | £604M | £578M |
| EBITDA | £124M | £103M | £119M | £126M | £118M |
| Net income | £77.7M | £65.7M | £84.9M | £83.8M | £75.6M |
| Free cash flow | £124M | £70.4M | £122M | £156M | £171M |
| Capital expenditure | £9.10M | £7.40M | £7.30M | £10.8M | £9.60M |
| Total debt | n/a | £56.0M | £38.1M | £43.2M | £47.6M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | CKN.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -13.2% | -9.3% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -5.2% | +3.9% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -16.7% | -16.9% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +15.1% | +7.3% | 5th highest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 13.5% | 27.9% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 13.9× | 7.3× | 3rd most expensive of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 5.2% | -3.8% | 4th most demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +12.0% | +10.1% | 7th highest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -6.8 pp | -16.0 pp | 5th most demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +15.8 pp | +1.8 pp | highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 9.1× | 5.4× | 3rd most expensive of 17 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -2.2× | 1.3× | least indebted of 18 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarkson CKN.L | United Kingdom | $1.90B | -5% | +15% | 14% | 13.9× | 5.2% | +12.0% |
| PanOcean 028670.KS | South Korea | $1.91B | -12% | +24% | 9% | 5.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Sumitomo Warehouse 9303.T | Japan | $1.87B | +4% | +2% | 6% | 16.3× | 11.3% | +0.4% |
| CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping 3877.HK | Hong Kong | $1.85B | -4% | -10% | 60% | 7.2× | -3.2% | +14.9% |
| Stolt-Nielsen SNI.OL | Norway | $1.82B | +4% | -5% | 11% | 8.8× | -4.5% | +9.5% |
| U-Ming Marine Transport 2606.TW | Taiwan | $1.70B | +6% | +13% | 29% | 8.7× | -3.8% | +12.8% |
| Wisdom Marine Lines 2637.TW | Taiwan | $2.13B | +28% | +10% | 33% | 9.1× | -1.8% | +7.2% |
| Great Eastern Shipping GESHIP.NS | India | $2.16B | -8% | +24% | 42% | 5.1× | 8.2% | +10.1% |
| Pacific Basin Shipping 2343.HK | Hong Kong | $2.22B | +6% | -6% | 6% | 9.0× | 7.9% | +7.3% |
| Ningbo Ocean Shipping 601022.SS | China | $1.58B | -7% | +13% | 11% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| NS United Kaiun Kaisha,Ltd 9110.T | Japan | $1.58B | +39% | +11% | 11% | n/a | -5.0% | +10.7% |
| Costamare CMRE | United States | $1.54B | -28% | -42% | 44% | 5.2× | -6.9% | +13.0% |
| MITSUI-SOKO 9302.T | Japan | $1.52B | -22% | +6% | 7% | 17.8× | -1.6% | +3.4% |
| Navios Maritime Partners LP NMM | United States | $2.42B | +14% | +19% | 39% | 3.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Dampskibsselskabet NORDEN A/S DNORD.CO | Denmark | $1.46B | +15% | +7% | 3% | 9.6× | n/a | n/a |
| T.S. Lines 2510.HK | Hong Kong | $2.48B | +38% | -4% | 19% | 5.8× | -6.9% | +9.8% |
| Nanjing Tanker 601975.SS | China | $2.50B | -21% | +12% | 26% | 9.0× | -8.4% | +7.6% |
| Global Ship Lease GSL | United States | $1.41B | -8% | +6% | 48% | 4.1× | -15.2% | +22.1% |
| Capital Tankers CAPT.OL | Norway | $2.57B | +45% | n/a | 37% | 7.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Solstad Maritime SOMA.OL | Norway | $1.36B | -6% | +17% | 40% | 5.5× | -2.5% | +22.7% |
| Danaos DAC | United States | $2.70B | +10% | +2% | 48% | 5.3× | -8.7% | +17.7% |