Deutsche Forfait eyes return to profitability by mid-2015 - CFO

DF Deutsche Forfait AG

17/10/2014 16:55

FRANKFURT, Oct 17 (Reuters) - DF Deutsche Forfait  DE6G.DE  
hopes to return to profitability by mid-2015, recovering from 
losses incurred due to a U.S. regulator's investigation of the 
German trade finance specialist in connection with trade 
sanctions, its finance chief said. 
    "We expect that it will be possible to return to 
profitability in the course of the first half of 2015," Frank 
Hock told Reuters in an interview on Friday. 
    Deutsche Forfait, which buys receivables from exporters and 
then sells them on to investors, earlier said it was removed 
from the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control 
(OFAC), pushing its share price up as much as 88 percent. 
    The stock's value had collapsed from more than 4 euros at 
the start of the year to levels as low as 0.47 euros on news in 
February that OFAC, part of the U.S. Treasury that oversees 
trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy, suspected Deutsche 
Forfait of having violated trade sanctions against Iran. 
    Losses and one-off costs related to the group's stint on the 
sanctions list, which were already equal to half of its share 
capital in August, will exceed 10 million euros ($13 million) by 
the time the group has ramped up its business again, Hock said. 
    Hock said Deutsche Forfait would present a restructuring 
plan within two weeks to which shareholders, bondholders and 
lenders, the biggest of which is Germany's Commerzbank 
 CBKG.DE , will all have to contribute. 
    He declined to provide details on what measures were being 
considered but said a capital increase in cash or in kind or a 
debt-to-equity swap were conceivable. 
    "We have to raise at least what we incurred in losses," he 
said. He also said he was in talks with banks to extend loans. 
    ($1 = 0.7841 euro) 
 
 (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Harro ten Wolde) 
 ((maria.sheahan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1286; Reuters 
Messaging: maria.sheahan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: DF DEUTS FORF RESTRUCTURING/