Polish national rail freight operator PKP Cargo has come out with financial figures for 2024, the year in which the company entered restructuring. As expected, the company went through a severe financial downturn.
PKP Cargo’s revenue declined by 18,8 per cent to the equivalent of 1,03 billion euros. In 2023, the operator’s revenue was still 1,26 billion euros. In line with the decline in revenue, EBITDA fell by 72,2 per cent. In 2024, it amounted to 69 billion euros, whereas it was 248 million euros in 2023.
Overall, the company’s net loss adds up to 554 million euros. PKP Cargo ascribes a big chunk of that loss to impairment losses at 483 million euros.
Why such losses?
“Last year’s results are the result of many years of omissions and lack of action, which on the one hand led to a loss of market position, as well as to a mismatch of resources to the changing transport market, and consequently a decrease in the margins of operating activities”, PKP Cargo writes. It lost 30 per cent of its market share in Poland in recent years, and the loss of freight volume is in large part due to a decline in coal transport.
The deteriorating financial situation at PKP Cargo led the operator to enter into restructuring proceedings last year. Financial hardship was expected throughout most of the year. The company said that it expected improvements only from November 2024 onwards.