The French shipowner CMA CGM will take over 12% of the capital of the company Brittany Ferries, whose finances have been weakened by the health crisis, by converting the money it had lent it in September 2021 into shares, the two companies announced on Tuesday. companies.
“CMA CGM and Brittany Ferries have finalized an agreement to formalize the participation of CMA CGM in the capital of Brittany Ferries by up to 12%, thus confirming the desire for a lasting cooperation, by transforming the 25 million euros of financial support into shares of the company,” they told AFP, confirming information from the figaro.
“By becoming a shareholder, the CMA CGM group renews its confidence in Brittany Ferries, the main maritime ferry operator under the French flag,” the shipowner specified.
Business partner
CMA CGM, which says it wants to “participate in the maintenance of the industrial apparatus in strategic sectors of transport in France”, had subscribed to 10 million euros in convertible bonds from Brittany Ferries and lent it 15 million.
At the same time, the two companies formed a “commercial association” to promote the use of available cargo space on board Brittany Ferries ships serving the UK, Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula.
Long in the red, CMA CGM made the most of the overheating in shipping created by the Covid-19 crisis, with a record net profit of more than 23 billion euros in 2022, surpassing the CAC 40 groups.
Brittany Ferries, for its part, is going uphill after the very poor passage of Covid-19. After two very negative years, the company obtained a net profit of 22.6 million euros in the 2021-22 financial year (which ends at the end of October) on a turnover of 444.7 million, said its president Jean-Marc Roue in figaro.
The company controlled by Breton farmers has yet to find 15 million in fresh money, but “the rate of reserves for a few weeks is higher than that registered at the beginning of 2019” (before Brexit and Covid-19), according to Jean. -Marc Roue.
Brittany Ferries operates ships between Roscoff (Finistère), Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine), Cherbourg (Manche), Caen-Ouistreham (Calvados) and Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) on the one hand, the south of England and Ireland on the other hand, and also between Ireland, England and Spain.
Source: BFM TV
