Bulgarian State Railways Post 20 Mln Levs (10 Mln Euro) in Jan-Sept Loss – Media

The company’s current debt totals 150 million levs, BTA quoted BDZ’s Executive Director, Pencho Popov, as saying. Comparative figures were unavailable.

BDZ's passenger traffic fell by 7.00%-8.00% and cargo traffic decreased by some 45%, Popov said. He added that the worsening financial results are mainly due to the financial crisis and the closure of Bulgaria’s largest steel mill Kremikovtzi, which used to generate around a quarter of BDZ's cargo traffic.

BDZ began laying off 1,330 employees on October 1 and plans to cut another 700 jobs next year, Popov said.

The railways company turned to a net loss of 9.15 million levs last year, from a 24.13 million lev profit in 2007, local daily Dnevnik (www.dnevnik.bg) reported in July.

(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)