Business News in Brief: Limited overseas web sales costing Denmark revenue and jobs

In other news, blessed are the cheesemakers and intelligent transport industry

Despite the internet knowing very few national boundaries, only 2 percent of Danish companies’ total revenue comes from web sales abroad, according to Danmarks Statistik.

Furthermore, Denmark only ranks 20th in the EU in terms of the number of companies with a webshop that permits overseas sales.

Some 24 percent sell goods to Danish customers, but only 7 percent to overseas customers.

“We risk losing future export earnings and jobs when such a small percentage of companies sell online to customers in other countries,” warned Annette Falberg from Dansk Industri.


Keeping it in the family
The Maersk family’s holding company, APMH Invest, has paid Maersk 1.17 billion US dollars (7.31 billion kroner) to acquire Maersk Tankers, its oil and gas transportation unit. The sale, which should be completed next month, follows Maersk’s recent decision to offload its oil and gas reserves to French rival Total. APMH Invest owns 41.5 percent of the shares and controls 51.2 percent of the votes in Maersk. Maersk Tankers owns and operates 158 tankers and has 3,100 employees. It posted a turnover of 1.3 billion kroner for the first six months of 2017.

Digital advertising a success for region
The Greater Copenhagen & Skåne Committee is saluting the results of a digital marketing campaign aimed at attracting more companies and specialists working in IT, game development, life science, financial technology and logistics to the region. Among those setting up shop in the Danish capital is Unispace, a business interior design company with a presence in 18 countries, with six other foreign companies likely to follow. Some 20 foreign IT specialists have recently moved to the region in response to the campaign.

Ryanair cancels over 50 Danish flights
Recent miscalculations at Ryanair have resulted in the budget airline having to cancel 40 flights between Copenhagen and Charleroi in Belgium, along with close to 30 other routes to and from Denmark, between mid-September and late October. In total, Ryanair has cancelled close to 2,000 flights in Europe after miscalculating how many pilots it had available.

Canadian FTA kicks off
A new trade agreement between the EU and Canada, which will benefit Danish food exports, came into force today. The EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement looks set to benefit manufacturers of foods that can be classified as ingredients. The duty-free quota for cheese, for example, will be doubled.

Copenhagen lands another major congress
Bella Center in Copenhagen will host the ITS World Congress next September, the world’s largest event for intelligent transport systems. From September 17-21 an estimated 4,000 delegates, 10,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors are expected to gather.




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