DFDS shares plummeted when the Copenhagen Stock Exchange's opening bell rang on Wednesday morning, after a forecast reduction from the Danish shipping company was published late Tuesday.
Expectations for 2024 profits were lowered and several financial targets for the coming years were removed, which did not please investors. The stock fell 20 percent in early trading.
”Most of our business units will maintain their results in 2025, but we face specific challenges that need to be resolved before we can once again deliver a satisfactory level of profit,” DFDS wrote on Tuesday evening.
”Our most important challenges are adapting our route network in the Mediterranean to the latest market changes and the planned financial restructuring of our new Turkish transport company,” says CEO Torben Carlsen in a comment.
The operating profit is provisionally reported to be DKK 1.5 billion, which is at the lower end of the latest forecast range of DKK 1.5-1.7 billion. For 2025, DFDS expects a further decline to around DKK 1 billion. This forecast is due to a ”significant negative impact on profit” due to the changed competitive situation in the Mediterranean.
This competitive change consists of DFDS ferry lines being pressured by the Italian Grimaldi starting to sail between Italy and Turkey. The increase in competition is considered to be permanent, according to statements from Torben Carlsen in a telephone conference on Wednesday morning.
In addition, the acquired Ekol International Transport, which has now been renamed the Türkiye & Europe South business area and integrated into the logistics division, has a negative impact on operating profit. However, this was expected.
DFDS is also scrapping its financial targets, which were set as recently as May 2024, when targets were set for return on invested capital (ROIC), adjusted free cash flow and financial leverage for 2026/27.
On Wednesday morning, DFDS was also downgraded from hold to sell by Nordea.
DFDS has services between Kapellskär and Paldiski in Estonia, as well as between Karlshamn and Klaipeda in Lithuania.
Source: Dagens Industri
