PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French railway company Getlink SE (GRPTY), formerly Groupe Eurotunnel SE, reported Tuesday that its first-half consolidated net profit increased 5 percent to 41 million euros from 39 million euros a year ago.
Pre-tax profit grew 3 percent from last year to 37 million euros, while operating profit declined 5 percent to 169 million euros.
EBITDA dropped 2 percent year-over-year to 255 million euros. For Eurotunnel, EBITDA was down very slightly to 251 million euros from 254 million euros last year.
Revenue for the period, however, grew 2 percent to 523 million euros from last year's 512 million euros. The increase was despite the negative impact of the French customs officers' strike between March 4 and May 15 estimated 10 million euros.
Jacques Gounon, Chairman and CEO of Getlink, said, 'The Group remains confident in its ability to manage the next stages of Brexit and confirms the dividend growth policy.'
Looking ahead, the company said that in the context of a UK's exit from the European Union, it gave a financial objective of an EBITDA of 560 million euros in case of a 'no-deal' or 575 million euros in case of agreement.
The company now said that as the absence of an agreement on Brexit on October 31 is becoming very likely, the reference scenario for 2019 is now the 'no-deal' one - expecting EBITDA of 560 million euros.
By 2022, the company remains confident in its ability to generate sustainable growth and continues to expect growth in EBITDA.
The company confirmed its medium-term outlook of EBITDA of over 735 million euros. Annual dividend is expected to increase 5 cents per share.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX