Braemar Seascope Plc said it expected second half earnings to outperform the first half thanks to record levels of business on its forward order book.

The company reported a 65 per cent rise in turnover and raised its interim dividend from 6.50 pence per share to 6.75p last year.

But the shipping group's pre-tax profit in the six months to the end of August fell slightly to £4.1m on a turnover of £50.5 million, compared to £5.3 million on a turnover of £30.6 million over the same six months last year. The company attributed the dip to an goodwill impairment charge of £950,000 incurred because the acquisition of its Australia dry cargo business was hit by a weak chartering market for handymax vessels in the Pacific region.

Overall performance in shipbroking was good and the outlook for the remainder of the year is positive, the company said.

Braemar Seascope has expanded its business to include shipping services other than its core ship broking activities. The group now includes technical marine consultancy Wavespec, which project manages and advises on the construction of LNG ships, pollution response business DV Howells and ship agency Cory Brothers.

Braemar Seascope is continuing to look for more acquisitions to expand its range of non-broking services, chief executive Alan Marsh told reporters as he announced the interim results today. "We don't have anything to announce at present," he said. "But we working on deals looking at a number of 'bolt-on' opportunities," he said . "These will still be shipping-related services," he added.