Eurotunnel debt tops E8bn
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Eurotunnel lost .C925m for 1995, its first full year of trading. The losses, including 068m interest, increased the company's overall debt to more than,C8bn.
The company also owes £ 118m in unpaid interest since it froze interest payments at the beginning of September. But the results were described by Eurotunnel as "encouraging"— it points to the relatively small operating losses of 1.164m on a turnover of £299m.
Despite Le Shuttle's increasing success--it now holds 5O00 of the cross-Channel market and
has inure than doubled freight traffic in the first quarter of 1996—the rising tide of dcbt must put its future in doubt.
Eurotunnel says: "These results show how bank interest and financial costs are crippling our chances of financial success. Once this is resolved the future looks bright with Le Shuttle's recent performances being quite a remarkable achievement."
The company plans further talks in the autumn with the consortium of 225 international banks which backed the tunnel project on how to reduce the abn debt.