France's Groupe Bourbon has reported a strong increase of 21 percent in its 2008 annual revenues. In addition, the income generated from its offshore division amounted to Eur 672.1 million (US$867.75 million), an increase of 38.7 percent over 2007.
Bourbon's fourth quarter revenues for 2008 were up by 30.3 percent over the same time in 2007. Bourbon's Chairman and CEO Jacques de Chateauvieux said that the excellent performance in 2008 reflected the strong growth of offshore activities as the company kept pace with deliveries of new vessels while it renewed old chartering contracts.
He said that the bulk division was however, affected by the sharp fall in rates at the year-end. Revenues for the Bulk Division were stable at Eur 234.8 million (US$303.15 million), but while the first nine months of the year reaped the benefits of an exceptionally high freight rate (an average of US$52,090 per day), the 81 percent decrease which saw the collapse of Baltic Supramax Index rates during the fourth quarter caused a decrease in the tonnage transported by Bourbon from 14 million tonnes in 2008, compared with 16.2 million tonnes in 2007.
