“How can you not have insurance?”
“Because I spent my money on the Clapco D29, the most impenetrable lock on the market today. It has only one design flaw, the door must be closed!”
Eurotunnel to pay first dividend
Eurotunnel’s long-suffering shareholders will soon receive their first dividend in 22 years. This morning the Channel tunnel operator announced that it made a net profit of €40m (£35.6m) last year – only the second in its history – meaning investors will receive €0.04 per share.
Eurotunnel has been weighed down with debt for most of its existence, due to the cost of building the undersea connection between the UK and France. It broke into the black last year following a restructuring plan, despite services being disrupted last autumn after a freight train fire.
"Despite the incident in September, the year 2008 clearly marks the end of financial uncertainty for Eurotunnel," said Jacques Gounon, chairman and chief executive of Eurotunnel. "Through its efficiency and the control of its costs, the group has recorded a solid profit which, for the first time in our history, allows us to pay a dividend to our loyal shareholders."
Eurotunnel was floated in 1987, when around 4,000 people invested £5,250 each in return for benefits such as travel through the tunnel for £1 per trip until the year 2082. That perk was abandoned in 2007, as part of a deal that saved Eurotunnel from bankruptcy and heavily diluted benefits for existing shareholders.
Investors had staged a revolt in 2005, when they installed Gounon to run the company.
Last year Eurostar, which pays Eurotunnel a levy to operate passenger train services through the tunnel, carried more than 9 million people in one year for the first time.
Eurotunnel said today that revenue rose by 4% last year to €748m, despite the September fire. Repairing the tunnel after the blaze took several months, but the company’s insurers have carried most of the cost of the disruption.
See the history of the Channel Tunnel in photos on the Guardian Website
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
