Eurotunnel

The Groupe Euro Tunnel S. A. is for 99 years, until the year 2086, the operator of the 50km-long Euro tunnel and shuttle trains through the tunnel.

History

The company was founded on August 13, 1986 with the aim to finance the Euro Tunnel to build and operate. The construction of the tunnel was about 9.5 billion British pounds, twice as much as originally planned. The construction was financed in part by the investment of shareholders and partly by a loan of eight billion pounds.

The construction of the tunnel was carried out by Trans Link ( TML ) and passed on 10 December 1993 to Euro Tunnel. The tunnel was officially opened on 6 May 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II and President Francois Mitterrand. On 1 June of the same year, the first freight train went through the tunnel, the first truck shuttle was carried out on 1 July and the first Euro Star wrong on 14 November 1994.

End of November 1997 voted the 174 creditor banks to reschedule the company. Earlier, the shareholders had voted in favor of the plans. As part of the restructuring, the governments of France and Great Britain extended the license of the operating company by the year 2086, in the extended time 40 percent of the profit is paid over to the state budgets. On 9 February 2004 Euro Tunnel reported a net loss for 2003 of nearly 1.9 billion euros due to increased depreciation.

In 2004, the Company posted a turnover of 789 million euros a loss of 810 million euros. On 31 May 2006 the company announced that the creditors would give up 54 percent of their claims of nine billion euros. Without the restructuring, the company should have declared bankruptcy in 2007 in the first half. The level of debt at the time was around nine billion euros. The stock was suspended from trading on 12 May 2006 to 28 March 2007.

After the tunnel operator in January 2007 again was saved by the judgment of a Paris commercial court protection from creditors by filing bankruptcy, the scope for the deficit-ridden company subsequently became small again. Until 15 May 2007, around 500,000 shareholders could exchange their shares for title of the successor company Groupe Euro Tunnel ( GEC ). With the reorganization, a debt relief plan is connected, has the credit loads to 4.16 billion euros more than halved. Had the project been, however, not implemented as planned, the old debt with nine billion euros, British-French Euro Tunnel Company would have to file for bankruptcy. The success of the share exchange had been expected by the banks, because the shareholders would have had to expect a total loss. For the year 2007, the Company was able to report a profit of one million euros for the first time. Already in 1998 a net profit of 64 million pounds could be identified due to special effects as a result of debt restructuring.

On 11 September 2008 broke on board a shuttle from a fire. A part of the tunnel had to be renovated and could be re- opened on February 9, 2009.

Business

Operation of the Euro tunnel and rail infrastructure

This division contributed EUR 286 million to annual sales in 2012.

Euro Tunnel Shuttle

Euro Tunnel Le Shuttle is a car train for trucks, cars and motorcycles between Calais in France and Folkestone in the United Kingdom. With 478 million euros of the shuttle service contributed 48 % to annual 2012 revenue. He is thus the largest division of the Euro tunnel company.

Euro Porte

A rail freight company which operates freight trains in France and the Euro Tunnel.

MyFerryLink

An established in 2012 between Dover to Calais ferry.