(Reuters) – Getlink’s annual revenues and core profit slightly beat market expectations on Thursday due to cost control though the operator of the Channel Tunnel stayed mute on its guidance.
The group, which has not provided an outlook since October 2020, said it would share full-year targets when coronavirus trends, which it qualified as “currently positive”, were confirmed.
“Only the possibility of a sixth COVID-19 wave keeps us very attentive to the health situation,” Chief Executive Officer Yann Leriche told journalists in a call.
Getlink, which serves high-speed trains between London and mainland Europe, saw on-and-off restrictions dent traffic in the past two years, and it got caught in the crossfire of a post-Brexit tug-of-war between France and Britain.
“In 2021, we didn’t burn any cash on the core business, which is a remarkable performance in view of the year we have experienced,” Leriche said as the company posted a positive free cash flow of 21 million euros.
For the year ended December, Getlink reported revenues of 774 million euros ($875.32 million), against a forecast of 770 million by analysts in a company-compiled consensus.
The group said traffic recovered significantly in the first weeks of 2022, which it attributed to a gradual lifting of travel curbs and smooth reintroduction of EU-UK customs controls.
Getlink’s annual net loss however widened to 229 million euros, from 113 million euros a year earlier.
Finance chief Geraldine Perichon said there were exceptional costs of “a little more” than 40 million euros covering a voluntary departure programme and a dispute over an ElecLink contract. Inflation-linked debt payments represented nearly 80 million euros in costs.
“On the British side, things are (…) practically finished. On the French side, the process is longer,” Leriche added on the departure programme of 200 people set to take place in 2022.
($1 = 0.8843 euros)
(Reporting by Juliette Portala and Khadija Adda-Rezig; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
