The Times - UK (2020-10-20)

the times | Tuesday October 20 2020 2GM 45

Business

Desperate holidaymakers prepared to

pay a mark-up to get to Europe during

the summer meant that the pandemic-

hit revenues of the Channel tunnel

operator were not as bad as they might

have been.

However, with travel restrictions,

quarantines and lockdowns returning,

Getlink, the Paris-listed operator, has

abandoned any forecast for the full

year, as reported by The Times at the

weekend.

Third-quarter figures released by

Getlink, operator of Le Shuttle trains

between Kent and Pas-de-Calais and

formerly known as Eurotunnel, show

that the company has been charging on

average nearly 14 per cent more than a

year ago. Charges this summer were

some 30 per cent higher than five years

ago, meaning that revenues have held

up despite falling car numbers.

Revenues in the July to September

Robert Lea Industrial Editor

Higher charges ease the pandemic

pain for Channel tunnel operator

quarter, normally Le Shuttle’s busiest of

the year, were down only 2 per cent at

€181 million. That was despite a 30 per

cent drop in car numbers to 625,000

and a 74 per cent fall in coaches to 2,800.

Lorry numbers were down only 3 per

cent at 366,000, reflecting the tunnel’s

role in delivering much-needed goods

between the UK and Europe.

However, where Getlink has really

suffered is on the money it receives

from Eurostar, the high-speed passen-

ger rail service. With demand falling

away and services cut drastically, Euro-

star carried only 340,000 passengers in

the third quarter, an 89 per cent fall on

the 3.1 million in the same period last

year. That sent Getlink’s revenues from

Eurostar tumbling by more than half to

€36 million.

For the quarter Getlink’s revenue, in-

cluding freight train operations via the

tunnel, fell 17 per cent to €252 million.

For the nine months including the

locked-down second quarter, group

25%

Fall in Getlink group

revenues for the

nine months to

September, including

lockdown in the

second quarter

Source: Getlink

revenue fell 25 per cent to €621 million.

“Eurotunnel’s shuttle revenue was

down by only 2 per cent as a result of the

bounceback observed following the

temporary lifting of UK quarantine

measures during Le Shuttle’s peak

summer season, the resilience of the

truck shuttle’s traffic and the positive

effects of the group’s yield management

[customer-charging] strategy,” the

company said.

Last year the company made an

operating profit of €560 million on

revenues of €1.08 billion, carrying 1.6

million lorries and 2.6 million cars. By

the summer it had cut its profit forecast

to €350 million.

Yesterday it said: “The forecasts

prepared by the group in July were

based on the absence of new confine-

ment or travel restrictions. Given the

second wave of the sanitary crisis, the

group has decided to withdraw its

guidance... as it was based on assump-

tions that are no longer valid.”

and her social and

cultural influence. This

year, however, it added a

fifth criterion to consider

how executives use their

each woman’s

business; health

and direction of

the business; the

arc of her career;

Top 10

1 Julie Sweet, CEO,

Accenture

2 Mary Barra, chairman

and CEO, General Motors

3 Abigail Johnson,

Chairman and CEO,

Fidelity Investments

4 Gail Boudreaux,

president and CEO,

Anthem

5 Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS

6 Jane Fraser, head of

global consumer

banking and president,

Citi (CEO from Feb 2021)

7 Ruth Porat, senior

vice-president and CFO,

Google, Alphabet

8 Sheryl Sandberg, chief

operating officer,

Facebook

9 Corie Barry, CEO, Best

Buy

10 Judith McKenna,

president and CEO,

Walmart International

power to influence their

companies and the wider

world for the better.

Kristen Bellstrom and

Beth Kowitt, who

compiled the list, said:

“The result is a list that

is more diverse, in every

sense of the word, than

we’ve had in the past —

essentially a list that is

more reflective of the

moment we’re living in.”

The new criterion

paved the way for 13

newcomers (up from ten

in 2019 and seven in

2018). It also led to a fall

in ranking for executives

like Facebook’s Sheryl

Sandberg and YouTube’s

Susan Wojcicki, whose

“failure to rein in

misinformation on their

platforms overshadows

their companies’ strong

financial performance”.

r 20 202 0 2 GM

T

he 2020 edition

of Fortune’s

Most Powerful

Women in

Business

includes 16 chief

executives from the

magazine’s list of 500

global companies

(Robert Miller writes).

It also marks the

return, in sixth place, of

the Scottish-born Jane

Fraser, who in February

will become the first

woman to head a major

US bank when she takes

the top job at Citigroup.

Topping the list, which

was started in 1998, for

the first time is Julie

Sweet, chief executive of

Accenture, the

professional services

company, with Mary

Barra, head of General

Motors, in second spot,

followed by Abigail

Johnson, chairwoman

and chief executive of

Fidelity Investments, one

of the world’s largest

fund managers.

Technology and

finance tied as the most

represented industries in

the top 50, with ten

executives from each.

Fortune usually uses

four criteria: the size

and importance of

Great Scot!

Fraser back

in Fortune’s

top ranks

To

1 J

Ac

2 a 3 C F 4 p A 5 6

t influencetheir

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bbbuuuus

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Julie Sweet, of Accenture,

left; Mary Barra, of

General Motors; and

Jane Fraser, who takes

over at Citigroup in

February and is featured

on Fortune’s front cover

demic. Finnebrogue was founded in

1985 by Denis Lynn, now 63, who re-

mains the chairman and owner. In

2009 its turnover was £3 million but

revenue is projected to hit £150 million

this year. At present it employs 860

people in three factories.

Andrew Nethercott, 51, managing di-

rector, said: “There is surging demand

from an educated and discerning con-

sumer base for more delicious, nutri-

tious, sustainable and affordable food

— and particularly plant-based food.”

Dominic Walsh

A Northern Irish food business is

creating 300 jobs at a new factory

producing plant-based meat sub-

stitutes.

Finnebrogue Artisan, based in

Downpatrick, is investing £25 mil-

lion in a state-of-the-art facility. It

will focus on products aimed at

“flexitarians” who are reducing their

meat consumption.

The company has yet to disclose the

portfolio of products that will be made,

but they are expected to fall under

Finnebrogue’s Naked brand, which

also includes meat products such

as bacon that does not use nitrites

in the curing. The new factory is

scheduled to open in time for

Veganuary.

The jobs boost comes at a time

when many of Northern Ireland’s

traditional employment sectors, no-

tably aviation, shipbuilding and hospi-

tality, have been badly hit by the pan-

ir

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but

Fin

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Meat substitutes will help to bring home bacon