Eurotunnel reports gain in comparable sales data in 2007

   PARIS, January 16, 2008  – Eurotunnel, the operator of the cross-channel
rail tunnel linking France and Britain, on Tuesday reported a gain in sales in
2007 against comparable figures for the previous year.
   It said sales came to 775 million euros (1.2 billion dollars) in 2007,
compared to 729 million in 2006.
   The figures reflect the end of a contract in November 2006 that established
a guaranteed payment system for rail companies and which had been worth 95
million euros.
   Excluding the contract’s cancellation, Eurotunnel sales were 830 million
euros in 2006. Using that figure, sales would show a 6.6 percent decline in
2007.
   The company attributed what it termed "an unprecedented development of
activity" last year to its car and truck shuttles, with vehicles carried on
rail cars. Sales in that unit rose 8.0 percent, to break through the
500-million-euro threshold.
   The Eurostar train that uses the tunnel carried about 8.3 million
passengers between London, Paris and Brussels last year — up 5.0 percent from
2006, according to Eurotunnel.
   The only unit to register a decline in 2007 was rail freight. Tonnage
carried fell 23 percent to 1.21 million.
   Eurotunnel’s chairman Jacques Gounon, assessing the overall performance,
said: "We are now substantially ahead of the business plan for the financial
restructuring."
   Eurotunnel in late June announced a major restructuring that enabled it to
reduce its debt by half to 4.16 billion euros.

AFP