Shipbroker Quentin Soanes is eyeing an indoor marathon rowing ­record, adding to his string of sporting achievements. Not bad for a 64-year-old.

He also talks enthusiastically about plans to expand his London-based Sterling Shipping Services sale and purchase brokerage into chartering — brushing aside any talk of retirement.

“I like working,” says Soanes, chairman of a company set up in September 2013 by breakaways from Braemar Shipping Services.

Sterling’s expansion has not been meteoric but Soanes says it is financially well anchored. To use a rowing term, its rating (number of strokes per minute) appears roughly in line with its early ambitions.

The company has a team of nine brokers and a presence in Greece and the Netherlands, and recently purchased offices in Shoreditch.

Braemar shares

Sterling has also increased its stake marginally in Braemar, ­although Soanes knocks down any suggestion it is preparing the ground for a reverse takeover of his former employer.

Nine S&P brokers falls short of the 14 to 15 that Soanes and joint managing director Gavin McClure talked about in an interview with TradeWinds in April 2015.

But Sterling has also quietly ­established a shipping agency on Merseyside, north-west England, ­headed by Kevin Gorman, who previously ran a similar business for Braemar. That company employs nine people.

In addition to McClure, with Sterling since its launch, are co-managing director Jeremy Davies and director Henry Kidd. Soane’s son Dorian is also a director.

The Amsterdam office opened in 2015 and is headed by Adir Gal, and the Athens office, run by Nicholas Sfinias, opened in 2018. Gal and Sfinias each have approximately 15 years experience in the S&P and newbuilding markets.

“By S&P standards we are large,” says Soanes, but he concedes that the firm’s size is not so big in the broader shipbroking world. The payroll includes a couple of trainee brokers, and another may be employed soon. This is the preferred route, rather than arbitra­rily taking on established brokers from other companies, says Soanes.

Sterling’s size means its income stream can fluctuate markedly and it needs brokers — “hardworking, entrepreneurial, driven and self-confident” — who can live in that environment.

“We are not at the phase of ­having to employ mediocre brokers who are not driven in the way you need to be in the first phase of a company,” he says.

Sterling adds final pieces

“When we started Braemar, we had a hard core of people, all driven, who have gone off and done well by themselves,” a reference, no doubt, to the likes of Clarksons chief executive Andi Case and Seasure Shipbroking founder Richard Rivlin.

Sterling employs no administrative staff, although that is likely to change if it moves into the more labour-intensive tanker or bulker chartering business.

“You have to be light on your feet,” Soanes explains. “No one knows what the market will be like next year or even the next three months.”

He says some brokers, especially those with high salary bills, have strug­gled in recent times. Sterling was profitable in its first year, he adds. In the latest available figures, for 2017, it delivered a profit of around £496,000 ($656,500), with average annual profitability since start-up of more than £600,000.

Annual turnover is roughly £2m, although Soanes expects a “dip” last year primarily due to costs ­incurred in buying and moving into its new office, as well as forward business activity that should benefit future results.

The chairman reveals little about Sterling’s clients apart from describing them as mainly “high-­reputation, long-standing and cash-rich” private owners.

McClure, who previously led tanker S&P at Braemar, continues to be active in the sector handling secondhand and newbuilding deals, with a number of transactions on behalf of International Seaways, including the purchase of two Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries’ resale suezmaxes.

But expanding outside of S&P ­depends on the “right opportunity” and finding the “right people”. Too many London brokers are risk-averse and not self-starters, instead seeking guaranteed salaries, Soanes claims.

The shipbroking market in London is shrinking, he observes, because of a smaller ­client base and growing competition from overseas brokers. “Shipping is run by the need to move commodities, so the engine room will be in areas where that need is,” he adds. “A lot of owners based in Europe now rely upon income streams from charterers in Asia.”

Quizzed on market speculation that Sterling may have designs on Braemar, Soanes insists it is not “something we are working on”, ­although mergers and acquisitions were a “forte” during his time at Braemar.

Broker chatter of a potential move emerged this month after it was reported that Soanes had increased his shareholding in Braemar from 3.92% to 4.1%.

But he says it was Sterling, which is 100% owned by its directors, that purchased the extra shares. He was subsequently obliged to ­declare any increase in shares by a company associated with him.

Soanes is openly critical of the way Braemar has been run, opinions he voiced at its last annual meeting. “It is a disaster,” he claims, pointing also to the share price having lost two-thirds of its value in recent years.

A source close to Braemar, however, says it is not alone in seeing its share price decline. At the end of last week, Clarksons’ share price was down 26% over the past year, compared with a 39% fall for Braemar.

“It isn’t just Braemar. It is the ­sector,” argues the source, who says shareholders are awaiting an update on appointing a new chairman and progress in turning round Braemar’s underperforming technical division.

Braemar today said its shipbroking division has had a strong second half to 2018, with full-year profit expected to be ahead of market expectations.

Sterling’s purchase of more Braemar shares followed the ­appointment of former Eastern Pacific Shipping chief executive Steve Kunzer to the Braemar board last month.

Discussing his departure from Braemar in 2013, Soanes says: “I had a view of what the problems of the company were, which weren’t shared by the board, and they ­appointed [instead] James Kidwell as CEO.”

Fewer financial risks

Asked what lessons he has learned launching a brokerage second time round, he replies that Sterling has probably taken fewer ­financial risks “in the sense of making sure the company is reason­ably well funded”.

Quentin Soanes stocked up on Braemar shares after Steve Kunzer’s appointment

Fitness fanatic Soanes, a former indoor rowing world endurance ­record holder for his age group who is now gunning for a UK marathon age-group record, no doubt has the energy to continue at the sharp end of broking for years.

He believes shipbrokers typically struggle to accept that one day their careers and financial situation have to change.

He is happy to carry on while he feels he can contribute. “One thing I have is experience. I am sure my colleagues will tell me when it is time to go, and that is how it should be.”

Source: http://www.tradewindsnews.com