SNCF recorded more than a billion euros in net profit in the first half, up 19%, and a turnover up 2%, despite the impact of climatic hazards which affected rail traffic four months out of six, indicates a press release released Tuesday July 28.
From January to June, SNCF earned a net profit of 1.18 billion euros compared to 950 million for the same period of the previous year, exceeding the one billion euro mark for the first time “in more than six years”, indicated the group’s deputy general director, Laurent Trevizani, during a meeting with the press. Turnover stood at 21.94 billion euros, compared to 21.52 billion a year earlier.
CEO Jean Castex, quoted in a press release, judges the performance to be “satisfactory” in a “particularly difficult” climatic and macroeconomic context: “winter storms” in January and February, “early episodes of heatwaves in May and June” which led to cancellations of Intercités trains too old to withstand high temperatures and “geopolitical tensions”.
In total, the impact of climatic hazards in France and Spain caused a shortfall of “more than 100 million euros” in turnover, according to Laurent Trevizani.
Over the six months, the public group mainly benefited from a “significant increase in attendance” from its main subsidiary, SNCF Voyageurs, and from a 1% increase in trains running on the network and therefore in the volume of tolls collected by the second subsidiary, SNCF Réseau, which manages the infrastructure for all companies, he explained.
“Record” number of travelers
The SNCF highlights the “record” number of travelers who took the TGV in the first half of the year (+ 2.8% to 83.4 million passengers), while Ile-de-France trains (Transilien) saw their traffic increase by 4.1% and regional trains outside Île-de-France (TER), by 2.3%. On the other hand, Intercity trains, including night trains, saw their traffic decrease by 3.8%.
In total, the turnover of SNCF Voyageurs – which manages passenger transport – grew a little slower than traffic (+ 1.3% to 10.56 billion euros). That of SNCF Réseau, which maintains the tracks, increased by 3.2% to 4.22 billion euros.
The SNCF “wants to be able to offer accessible TGV ticket prices”, indicated Laurent Trevizani to explain the difference in intensity between the increase in traffic and the increase in turnover. The fare increase was “below inflation” in the first six months of the year, he noted.
The public carrier was able to reduce its debt by nearly 690 million euros last semester, and thus improve its repayment capacity, an “important” point, in a “period of rising rates”, according to the manager.
The SNCF also took advantage of these good results to finance a major investment program relating to the modernization of its aging infrastructure and the purchase of new rolling stock: 4.9 billion euros over the half-year.
