FRENCH National Railways’ holding arm SNCF Participations (formerly Sceta) has sold its interest in travel agency Frantour to the Accor group, which also owns Wagons Lits. On-train services accounted for 26·7% of Accor’s turnover during 1998, the company announced on February 11.
SNCF Participations’ President Jean-Pierre Leclerc is also looking at the sale of bus operator Cariane, as part of a process that will streamline the railway’s subsidiaries. Apart from SeaFrance and Télécom Dévelopement, the SNCF holdings in 351 companies are due to be transferred to Participations by the end of June. Turnover for the operation is around Fr24bn, of which the Géodis group accounts for almost 75%.
