SMARTING under a barrage of negative publicity in the financial press, Channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel went on the offensive this week, bolstered by buoyant passenger and freight traffic in December. This has placed Eurotunnel in a strong position to meet the £275 million revenue projection for last year. The group, crippled by debts of £8 billion, expects to break even this year.
Co-chairman Sir Alastair Morton was particularly scathing in his condemnation of mongrel stock market manipulators whom he claimed had committed a "professional foul" by driving down the share price to cover short positions.
Don't believe the obituaries, he says, Eurotunnel "is not on the funeral slab". The group has called for an inquiry by the London and Paris stock exchanges into manipulation of the share price.