Today’s financial news is littered with stories of companies that have been hurt by fluctuations in the world’s currency markets. Firstly the consortium that purchased the Gherkin, the now famous London landmark, did so using leveraged Swiss Francs. The strengthening of the Swiss Franc meant that their repayments were going up and eventually it became too much. Well the keys have now been handed to the administrators and they failed to restructure their debts.
Secondly Visa have warned investors that it is facing slower growth than analysts would like due to the strengthening of their reporting currency, the USD. Although turnover was up 12% the strong green back looks to take its toll on the final numbers.
Finally Croda International’s sales fell 3.2% even in the face of increasing revenue, up 2.9% and a hike in pre tax profits which the company blamed on adverse currency changes.
