EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Getlink reports results for the first half of 2018, Jacques Gounon a warm welcome to you, you are the CEO and the Chairman of Getlink, you are presenting the H1 results, what are the main elements to bear in mind for the first semester?
Jacques Gounon: The key element is the fact that it’s a very good semester. As usual, I would say, because it’s the ninth consecutive first semester of growth. So it means that we have a very sustainable business model and that we are able to deliver more and more, year after year. I would like to keep two key indicators of course. Revenues are up by 4%, which is absolutely key in our kind of business. EBITDA, which is much more important for the profitability of the business, it’s +5%. So it means that definitively we are year after year, month after month, delivering high records both on traffic, on quality of services and on yield management. Because at the same time we have a growth in traffic and we are pushing up prices in order to have something which is good for all the team, which is working hard in our core businesses and to invest, because one of the key success factors is the fact that we are investing in order to offer more services, more quality of service to our clients.
EBM: Let’s maybe start with Eurotunnel, which achieved a +4% in sales and a +4% in EBITDA to €247 million. It looks like the Channel Tunnel is doing extremely well….
Jacques Gounon: Yes indeed, in fact because the Channel Tunnel is a unique asset. We have been implemented through the Treaty of Canterbury, in 1986 and since that period of the day we are working in order to improve what we are offering to our growing traffic. Two comments, I would say, on the Shuttle business, it’s working very well and you have the results you mentioned. But I would like to pay tribute to Eurostar. Eurostar has opened a new route between London and Amsterdam early April and it’s a real success. It means that people want to travel, whatever the means they are using, their cars and Eurostar trains and perhaps in the future new operators because we are working on a low cost offer. If we consider goods, it’s much more important because the full trading per year in the tunnel, going on both sides of the tunnel, is €140 billion. It’s 50/50 between UK and Continental Europe importation/exportation. What does it mean? It means that there is both on passengers and on goods a so important flow and we are so successful to deliver an easiness of crossing the channel that the result of that is the fact that our traffic is growing, we are more than resilient, we are a successful way to go and to cross the Channel.
EBM: Can you please say a word about two businesses of yours, Europort and ElecLink?
Jacques Gounon; Yes, you are right to raise these two issues because it’s part of our development and I would say perhaps our diversification. Europort is successful, it’s rail freight business and we are the only one in France to be successful and to be a profitable business. And we know that everywhere around France rail freight is growing and is successful. We have an incredible increase of our profitability this first semester with Europort at a time where SNCF, the French historical rail operator, is offering a lot and had some negative impact on our European business. Having said that, due to the quality of service we are offering, we are still, with Europort, growing and having a very high level of EBITDA because we reached a + €4 million for this first semester. And ElecLink, which will be the future new electrical interconnector between UK and the Continent, we are on track and on line. It’s a significant investment. But, if we consider for instance looking at the business model, what is the gap of electricity price between UK and Europe at the present time, we can see that it’s better than in 2017. So we are very excited with ElecLink and we are still in the mood, in the way to open the new operations early 2020. It will definitively change the picture, the landscape of our group.
EBM: All in all, everything looks positive for the group. What are your perspectives for the years to come?
Jacques Gounon: First of all, of course, we are - I mentioned that we are investing - we will continue to invest in order to offer the best services to our customers. Because the customer is our first priority - or I would say second priority after security and safety of course which has been always our first priority. We are considering new tools in order to have more capacity in the tunnel, more flexibility, more easiness for our customers and this solution is digitalisation. We have launched a very important digitalisation plan in order to have the edge-of-the-art tools in order to serve our clients. And so we are very confident on the future. We can say that our objectives for this year, 2018, which is an EBITDA of €545 million, we can confirm. We are on track. You know that the summer period is always better than the winter period so with the €250 million for the first semester, it shows that we have no difficulty to reach our target for 2018. And beyond that, as we have such a resilient business model, as we have the possibility to work closely with the governments under the Treaty of Canterbury umbrella, we do think we have the possibility to confirm our vision for 2022 which is an EBITDA which will be more than €735 million. And at the end of the day, what we would like is to confirm that Getlink is a successful story, a success story. And the best way to give this image is to continue and to confirm our dividend policy, which is an increase of 5 cents per share each year, year after year, until 2022. And after the ElecLink operations starting, I believe that we can perhaps increase this dividend policy at that time. So definitively the team is working well, the team is focusing on customers, is focusing on shareholders and my message is quite clear. Whatever the changes which could happen in the future, we have the right business model to deliver a very good return for our shareholders.
EBM: Mr. Gounon, Chairman and CEO of Getlink, thank you very much.
Jacques Gounon: Thank you very much.
