Areva narrows losses in 2016

Paris: The troubled French nuclear reactor builder Areva said on Wednesday that it sharply narrowed its losses last year, thanks to an ongoing restructuring programme. In the red for the sixth year in a row, Areva said it booked a bottom-line loss of 665 million euros ($700 million) in 2016, compared with a loss of 2.04 billion euros a year earlier. In 2015, Areva had been compelled to make substantial provisions for restructuring and for additional losses on its EPR pressurised water reactor project in Finland. “The group’s environment remained very difficult in 2016, in particular with a sharp drop in uranium and enrichment prices and a slowdown in services,” Areva said. — AFP