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Marine, land and aviation fuel specialist, World Fuel Services, believes that the UK's withdrawal from the EU 'could harm our business' and have a negative effect on its financial results.

In a filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, World Fuel Services said: "A withdrawal could, among other outcomes, disrupt the free movement of goods, services and people between the UK and the EU, undermine bilateral cooperation in key geographic areas and significantly disrupt trade between the UK and the EU or other nations as the UK pursues independent trade relations. These factors pose a risk to the overall UK economy and as a result, our operations in the UK."

Explaining how currency exchange rate fluctuations could lead to lower US dollar results and customers slashing their budgets, World Fuel Services warned: "The strengthening of the US dollar relative to the British pound and other currencies may harm our results of operations as the local currency results of our international operations may translate into fewer US dollars. Uncertainty over Brexit and currency fluctuations could also impact our customers, who may closely monitor their costs and reduce their spending budgets on our products and services, which in turn, may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition."

On the issue of risk management, World Fuel Services noted that the company's hedging activities may not be effective to mitigate volatile fuel prices and may expose the firm to counterparty risk.

World Fuel Services also pointed out that divergent national laws and regulations in the UK may incur additional costs as the company adapts to potentially different regulatory frameworks.

"The effects of Brexit will depend on any agreements the UK makes to retain access to EU or other markets either during a transitional period or more permanently. Given the lack of comparable precedent, it is unclear what financial, trade and legal implications the withdrawal of the UK from the EU would have and how such withdrawal would affect us. Adverse consequences concerning Brexit or the EU could include deterioration in global economic conditions, instability in global financial markets, political uncertainty, continued volatility in currency exchange rates, or adverse changes in the cross-border agreements currently in place, any of which could have an adverse impact on our financial results in the future," World Fuel Services concluded.