Chunnel debts rise more than forecast
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• Eurotunnel shocked the City last week with losses almost five times higher than its total revenue during the first half of 1995.
Ticket sales reached £104.5m while losses reached £464.5m. But analysis of the figures shows that even if Eurotunnel was not saddled with k8bn of debt, it would still have lost £100m in the first six months.
Chairman Sir Alastair Morton says Eurotunnel could achieve annual ticket sales of £275m plus 1.80m in rail usage charges. That could allow it to break even, although he concedes Eurotunnel's annual depreciation charge is heading towards £136m.
Faced with conflicting demands from its banks and shareholders, Eurotunnel announced that it is setting up twin shareholders' committees in France and Britain as it tries to renegotiate its bank debts by January.
11 Freight traffic using the tunnel continued to grow in September, reaching 38,136 trucks compared with 36,517 in August.