CFO: Turkish Lira Crisis Affects DFDS

The currency crisis in Turkey has had a negative impact on Danish shipping and logistics company DFDS, the company’s CFO revealed.

“When we acquired UN RoRo earlier this year a number of risks were naturally considered,” Torben Carlsen, CFO of DFDS, said in an interview with TV2 News.

“Among other things, the Turkish lira has weakened over a long period but since the beginning of August 2018 it has fallen sharply by 27% and media are now reporting this as a Lira currency crisis,” Carlsen continued.

He added that over the past week, the decline had an impact on the DFDS share which at one point was down 10% but recovered somewhat on August 14.

However, as of Monday this week, the Turkish lira has begun to recover from its record low.

As the situation is stabilizing, the company will soon assess how this will impact DFDS.

“We are in Turkey for the long run and fully committed to our investment in the Mediterranean as a region with a large future growth potential. The timing of the currency crisis is of course unfortunate, but our focus is on working with our customers to move through this period in the best possible way,” Carlsen explained.

According to DFDS, the decline in the lira means reduced Turkish imports, but exports are growing fast.

In June, the company closed the acquisition of 98.8% of U.N. Ro-Ro, Turkey’s largest operator of freight ferry routes. The integration process is expected to be finalized by the end of this year.