The Financial Times newspaper reported that since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, European companies have lost €100 billion. The media outlet indicated, citing preliminary data from a survey of 600 European groups’ annual reports and 2023 financial statements, that 176 European companies faced the depreciation of their assets while other companies closed or reduced their activities due to the sale, closure, or reduction of Russian businesses.
According to FT, energy companies such as BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies, suffered the most losses, losing €40.6 billion in total. “The losses were far outweighed by higher oil and gas prices, which helped these groups report bumper aggregate profits of about €95bn ($104bn) last year,” the outlet reported.
Financial corporations such as banks, insurance companies and investors lost approximately €17.5 billion, while car manufacturers lost €13.6 billion. The countries that lost the most are the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Ireland, and Denmark.
After the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, several foreign companies announced their withdrawal or suspension of work in the Russian market, starting a series of losses in Europe. In fact, the sanctions and exit from the Russian market have only hurt European companies and economies, and not Russia, as has been proven beyond a doubt.
The bloc’s industry has been especially hurt by rising energy costs since Brussels sanctioned Russia. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the decline in industrial production in the European bloc is responsible for the crisis.