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Business news in brief: Most farming bankruptcies in 20 years
This article is more than 8 years old.
In other news: Uber owner investing in Danish IT company; wealth in Denmark at 35-year high; majority of leading IT consulting company sold; and record number of used car sales
As last year drew to a close, Børsen reported the highest number of bankruptcies in the farming industry since the mid-1990s. The number of farmers forced out of business increased by 60 percent during the 12 months of 2015 with 159 bankruptcies. What’s more, one in seven farms are deemed to be a high risk of impending bankruptcy. A number of crises in recent months have negatively impacted on the price of pork, milk and corn, reducing farmers’ income and forcing many to incur more and more debt.
Uber owners make big investment in Danish IT company
In December, the American capital investment fund Summit Partners, which owns the international transport company Uber, bought 26 percent of the Danish IT company Siteimprove for 375 million kroner, valuing the Danish firm at 1.5 billion kroner. Siteimprove is responsible for developing systems to identify faults on websites, and it has built up a portfolio of 3,500 customers since it was founded in 2003.
Wealth in Denmark is at its highest for 35 years
A new report by the labour council Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd shows that Danes are wealthier than they have been for 35 years. Danes have an average annual income of 265,000 kroner, making Denmark the world’s sixth most wealthy population per capita, up one place since the last rankings. The only countries with a higher income per inhabitant are the Netherlands, the USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Norway.
Majority of leading IT consulting company sold to Norwegian fund
Just over 50 percent of the shares in one of Denmark’s biggest IT consulting companies Netcompany were sold to the Norwegian capital investment fund FSN Capital in December, Børsen reported. FSN reportedly paid 1.1 billion kroner for the majority shareholding, valuing the company at more than 2 billion kroner. According to CEO André Rogaczewski, the company will benefit from the investment by furthering its international ambitions.
Record number of used cars sold in 2015
More used cars were sold in 2015 than ever before. According to a report by the car portal BilBasen and the bank Spar Nord, a record 540,000 sales took place last year. According to Jan Lang, a market analyst at BilBasen, strong sales figures for new cars have been a contributing factor, as has the falling price of fuel, insurance and financing.