Yahoo Finance Eurotunnel On Track Amid Freight Truck Boost
Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel (Paris: FR0010533075 - news) has kept its revenue rise on track, driven by a rise in shuttle train usage by trucks.
Eurotunnel Group said income for the first quarter topped €260m (£220m), up 8% on the same period last year.
It said the increase included a 5% rise in revenue from the shuttle train service, reaching €106.5m (£89m) in the first three months of the year.
Freight vehicle numbers rose 4% to 347,000 in Q1, while car shuttle usage was lifted by 1% to 448,000.
It also saw a 13% surge in so-called through freight trains, operated by third parties, to 706 in the period.
But it said passenger coach numbers were down by 6%, which was because of this year's late Easter break.
Groupe Eurotunnel chairman and chief executive Jacques Gounon said: "There is a very positive trend marking the start of the year. The upturn in the UK economy is lifting the Eurotunnel Group's activity."
In December, Eurotunnel successfully appealed against a competition ruling stopping it from also running ferries between Calais and Dover (Berlin: DOV.BE - news) .
More than 50% of all cross-Channel travel is now done via the 31-mile undersea link, which was opened in 1994.
On Wednesday, cross-Channel train service Eurostar reported a 7% increase in Q1 revenue, boosted by a rise in business travellers.
Sales between January and March topped £227m, a record for the period.
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