The company said its operations across Europe continued to grow “despite ongoing uncertainty caused by Brexit”.

Upon releasing its results, chief executive and president Niels Smedegaard said: “In spite of the Brexit issue, and the delayed Brexit agreement between the UK and EU, we see that the UK’s economy is still growing, albeit at a slower pace.”

Smedegaard said that the Danish ferry operator saw its North Sea freight volumes grow by 7% in 2017.

“Brexit is not what we hoped for, but it does not change our confidence about the future," he added. "The official expectation is that the UK economy will keep growing (although at a slower pace), and as the EU economy is also predicted to grow and both parties depend on trade, we are hopeful for the future."

DFDS reported that export volumes in the UK, its largest source market, "continued to grow at a high rate", while import volume growth slowed due to reduced car imports, while it described UK passenger demand as “stable” in the fourth quarter of last year.

The company said it expected revenue to increase by “around 2%” in 2018 excluding acquisitions, while company-wide investments are expected to amount to around 1.1bn Danish Krona (£130 million).

“Trading in 2018 is expected to remain robust with growth across Europe expected to mitigate the inevitable uncertainty caused by the Brexit negotiations,” the ferry operator said in a statement.

DFDS has ordered four new ‘mega ships’ from China with capacity of 475 trailers each for the North Sea, due for delivery from 2019.

Smedegaard added: “In spite of the challenges Brexit may lead to, we see opportunities for providing our customers with new, valuable, customs clearance services after Brexit.”