The SNCF could suffer a shortfall of three billion euros in revenue, due to the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, said Friday on its website the newspaper Les Echos. "The shortfall in the health crisis in France should quickly reach 3 billion euros for the public enterprise, according to our information, not to mention the post-deconfinement," said the economic daily.
In March, the SNCF, according to Les Echos, accused a shortfall of 700 million euros in turnover and a decline of 600 million in its operating margin, before experiencing in April a fall of 1.4 billion in its operating revenue "and an impact of 1.2 billion on its margin". And the first days of May, until the deconfinement scheduled for 11, "will be in the same vein".
Towards refinancing?
Contacted by AFP, the SNCF initially made no comment, either on the figures published or the order of magnitude of the expected losses. “It will require refinancing. Discussions have started with the State on the effect of the losses, ”indicates an internal source cited by Les Echos, regarding a possible recapitalization.
In mid-April, CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou had warned that the public group was facing "heavy losses", given this unprecedented crisis. "Our company will experience a major shock," he warned in a message to the railroad workers, less than three months after a long strike, which cost almost a billion euros.
Concerning the resumption of traffic, the boss of the SNCF had indicated considering initially for the main lines “perhaps, compared to the current offer, a doubling of the offer during the first weeks”, which would thus pass from 6-7% currently at almost 15%.
We would then have in June "one TGV out of two for about a month" and then "we hope to arrive at 100% of TGVs at the start of summer," he said.
As for TER and Ile-de-France commuter trains, we would go “very fast” from 15-25% currently to 50%, before progressing further according to demand.
- Coronavirus
- Society
- SNCF
- Economy