Business News in Brief: The Brexit ally close to home

In other news, two Danish firms have been acquired by foreign rivals and more cars are being imported from abroad

Sep 1, 2017

Bexit has an ally in the shape of Claus Grube, the Danish ambassador to the UK.

Speaking to the BBC, he called the vote ““legitimate” and “democratic” and said Denmark respects it.

“We have a great tradition of referendums in Denmark and we know that this is a legitimate, democratic process which you have to respect the outcome of,” he said.

“It’s been a long, and let’s say very British debate, with a lot of wishful thinking about the future and how to get out of the European Union.”

It was now a question of following the “clear rules” set out in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Bullish profits at TV2
National broadcaster TV2 – a commercial channel that receives 500 million kroner from the state every year to assist its local news output, along with a small subscription from viewers – has posted what it calls “a historically good result” for the first six months of 2017. Its pre-tax profit rose from 24 million kroner to 178 million – a rise it partly attributed to fewer costs acquiring sports rights and a sharp rise in advertising revenue and TV2 Play streaming service sales. Moving onwards, TV2 said its focus would be even more digital and it has upgraded its 2017 EBIT from 200-250 million to 225-275 million kroner.

Rise in car imports
Car imports have risen by 67 percent over the last four years as the demand for foreign automobiles – particularly large, used ones over five years old that require much lower registration fees – has increased, reports the DR1 program ‘Penge’. Not only are people travelling abroad to buy cars, but dealerships are increasingly importing them.

Betting shop/kiosk giant eyes expansion
Cashpoint has acquired six betting shops from Tipico – three of which are in Copenhagen. All 22 employees were taken on by Cashpoint in a move that has been “completed without a hitch”, noted Cashpoint’s German owner, the Gauselmann Group. Cashpoint operates 5,000 betting shop/kiosks worldwide and is particularly prevalent in Germany and Austria. Gauselmann is already eyeing future expansion in Denmark, where revenue has increased by 30 percent this year.

Digital agency takes over Danish rival
AKQA has acquired its rival Dis/play, a Danish digital design agency with offices in Copenhagen, Cologne and Aarhus and a list of clients that includes Vestas, Ecco and Amnesty International. Dis/play declared revenue of 105 million kroner last year. Following the acquisition, AKQA has over 2,100 employees in 23 offices across four continents.

Still sore about the turbines
Bestseller’s Danish owner Anders Povlsen, one of the country’s richest individuals and the second biggest landowner in Scotland, has failed in his bid to launch a judicial review to stop a 22-turbine wind farm on a neighbouring estate that “threatens the view from his land”. The country’s Court of Session has refused the request. “We are saddened and disappointed at the court’s decision,” read a statement from Povlsen’s Scottish company Wildland.