Stolt-Nielsen Q4 Profit Misses Forecast

Shipping firm Stolt-Nielsen reported fourth quarter earnings below forecasts on Thursday and said it was concerned about the outlook for the chemical tanker market, even as lower fuel prices would help operations.

Stolt-Nielsen's fourth quarter net profit fell to $13.1 million from $35.2 million a year earlier, coming short of expectations for $21 million in a Reuters poll of analysts.

"We remain concerned about the market outlook for Stolt Tankers, as the order book now stands at over 30 percent in the parcel-tanker segment and the global economic outlook is uncertain," it said. "With the prolonged challenging chemical tanker market, we have and will continue to challenge our cost structure."

It added that lower bunker costs would eventually have a positive impact on its results but big parts of the savings would have to be passed onto contract customer.

Reporting by Balazs Koranyi