8 October 2008
For release at 07:30 UK time
Groupe Eurotunnel Traffic and Revenues:
Excellent performance despite recent incident in North Tunnel
* 3rd quarter 2008
* Revenues for the third quarter down by only 6%* at €189.2
million, despite capacity restrictions in the second half of
September
* Without the impact of the Tunnel being unavailable,
estimated at €22 million in September (excluding insurance
cover), revenues would have increased by approximately 5%
* First nine months of 2008
* Revenues increased by 5%* to €575 million
***
Activity for the third quarter would have increased by approximately
5%. It was naturally impacted by the incident of 11 September, which
led to a complete closure of operations for some 30 hours followed by
a gradual build up of services after 12 September.
The reduction of revenues attributable to the period until the end of
September is estimated at approximately €22 million.
As a result of the commitment of Eurotunnel's personnel, as much of
the infrastructure as possible was brought back into service by 29
September (5 out of the 6 rail tunnel intervals), restoring an almost
normal capacity to Eurostar and allowing more than half the normal
capacity for Eurotunnel's Shuttles, with significantly higher load
factors.
I. Traffic
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Third quarter | Nine months to 30 September |
| | | |
| |------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | 2008 | 2007 | change | 2008 | 2007 | change |
|------------------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------|
|Truck |trucks | 296,054 | 343,919 | -14% | 1,053,477 | 1,051,341 | 0% |
|Shuttles | | | | | | | |
|-----------+------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------|
|Passenger |cars ¹ | 580,823 | 658,824 | -12% | 1,573,600 | 1,614,334 | -3% |
|Shuttles | | | | | | | |
|-----------+------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------|
| |coaches | 13,044 | 16,765 | -22% | 47,015 | 49,265 | -5% |
|-----------+------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------|
|Eurostar ² |passengers |2,374 653| 2,230,360 | +6% | 7,003,478 | 6,143,643 | +14% |
|-----------+------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------|
|Rail |trains | 609 | 651 | -6% | 2,097 | 2,253 | -7% |
|freight | | | | | | | |
|trains | | | | | | | |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
¹ Includes motorcycles, vehicles with trailers, caravans and camper
vans.
² Only passengers travelling through the Channel Tunnel are included
in this table, excluding those who travel between Paris-Calais and
Brussels-Lille.
Eurotunnel Shuttles
* Truck traffic, which had shown growth of 7% in the first half of
2008, was heavily affected by the unavailability of the Tunnel
and, with 296,054 trucks transported during the quarter, has
decreased by 14% compared to the third quarter in 2007.
During the first nine months of the year, traffic was equivalent
to the same period in 2007.
* Car traffic, with 580,823 vehicles transported during the third
quarter, showed a decrease of 12%.
During the first nine months of the year it declined by 3%
compared to the same period in 2007.
* Coach traffic decreased by 22% in the quarter, with 13,044
coaches transported, and declined by 5% for the first nine months
of the year.
Railways
2,374,653 Eurostar passengers travelled through the Channel Tunnel
during the third quarter, representing an increase of 6% compared to
the third quarter 2007.
Eurostar's strong growth during the first half of 2008 (+18%)
continued throughout the summer, with an all time record month, in
July, with 923,151 passengers transported.
This dynamism is reflected in the figures for the first nine months
of the year, which have shown growth of 14%.
Since the partial re opening of the Tunnel, Eurotunnel has chosen to
give priority to Eurostar, which, since the first of October, has
been operating to an amended timetable near to its normal traffic
level with journey times that average 20 minutes longer than usual.
Rail freight, with a decline of 6% in the number of trains in the
third quarter of 2008 and a decline of 7% over the whole nine months,
has still not shown signs of growth.
II. Revenues
A. Revenues for the third quarter 2008 (July to September)
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | 3rd | 3rd quarter | % change | 3rd quarter |
| Revenue | quarter | 2007 | 2008/2007 | 2007 |
| (in | 2008 | recalculated* | | published** |
| million | un-audited | | | |
| euros) | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Eurotunnel | 118.9 | 132.0 | -10% | 140.6 |
| Shuttles | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Railways | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| | 67.1 | 65.9 | +2% | 70.1 |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| (Eurostar | | | | |
| and rail | | | | |
| freight | | | | |
| trains) | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Other | 3.2 | 3.4 | -5% | 3.5 |
| revenues | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Revenues | 189.2 | 201.3 | -6% | 214.2 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Average exchange rate for the first nine months of 2008 and 2007 re
calculated: £1=€1.261
** Exchange rate for the third quarter 2007: £1=€1.435.
At €189.2 million, Eurotunnel's total revenue figure for the third
quarter of 2008 decreased by 6% at a constant exchange rate compared
to the same period in 2007. Without the incident in September, it
would have reached approximately €210 million, approximately 5% above
2007.
* For the same reason Shuttle revenues recorded a drop of 10% to
€118.9 million.
* Revenues from the railways (€67.1 million) increased by 2% due to
growth in Eurostar traffic.
B. Revenues for the first nine months (1 January to 30 September)
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Revenue | Year to | Year to date | % Change | Year to |
| (in | date | 30 Sep 2007 | 2008/2007 | date |
| million | 30 Sep | recalculated* | | 30 Sep 2007 |
| euros) | 2008 | | | published** |
| | un-audited | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Eurotunnel | 364.9 | 355.8 | +3% | 380.3 |
| Shuttles | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Railways | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| | | | +9% | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| (Eurostar | 199.5 | 183.2 | | 197.1 |
| and rail | | | | |
| freight | | | | |
| trains) | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Other | 10.6 | 9.3 | +14% | 9.9 |
| revenues | | | | |
|------------+------------+---------------+-----------+-------------|
| Revenues | 575.0 | 548.3 | 5% | 587.3 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Average exchange rate for the first nine months of 2008 and 2007 re
calculated: £1=€1.261
** Exchange rate for the third quarter 2007: £1=€1.435.
For the first nine months of the year of 2008, Eurotunnel's revenues
amounted to €575 million, an improvement of 5% at a constant exchange
rate compared to the same period in 2007, despite the reduction in
revenues during the third quarter.
* Revenues from Shuttle services activity (€364.9 million) grew by
3% over the period.
* Revenues from the railways (€199.5 million) grew by 9% compared
to the same period in 2007.
* Other revenues grew by €1.3 million compared to 2007.
Additional information
Insurance
Eurotunnel has insurance cover for material damage and operating
losses due to business interruption of €900 million, equivalent to
more than a year's worth of revenues, with an excess of €10 million.
Warrants
The insurance payments to cover operating losses and material damage
(net of the €10 million excess) will be accounted for in "Other
income". They will be included in the calculation of the EBITDA and
there will be no significant impact on the calculation of the
exercise ratio for the warrants in 2011.
Jacques Gounon, Chairman and Chief Executive of Groupe Eurotunnel,
declared:
"Eurotunnel has demonstrated its essential role as cross-Channel
infrastructure.
Thanks to the commitment of our personnel, which has enabled the
rapid return to a satisfactory level of capacity, and to our
insurance cover, the Group should not significantly be affected by
this incident".
For media enquiries contact the press office on +44 (0) 1303 284491
Email: press@eurotunnel.com
For investor enquiries contact Michael Schuller on +44 (0) 1303
288749
Email: Michael.schuller@eurotunnel.com
[*] At a constant exchange rate. For the first nine months of 2008
the exchange rate is £1=€1.261, whilst for the third quarter of 2007
it was £1=€1.435. This change in rate has a mechanical effect on the
revenues: consolidating revenues for the first nine months of 2007 at
the 2008 exchange rate reduces revenue by €39 million.
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