Shares in the Italian tour operator Compagnia Italiana Turismo (CIT) plunged 10.36 per cent yesterday in Milan on the news that the Paris commercial court has put the group's French subsidiary, CIT Voyages, in administration with an observation period of around two months.
CIT's vice-chairman and majority shareholder, Gianvittorio Gandolfi, has attributed the French company's default to a cash shortfall resulting from problems in the credit factoring undertaken on CIT Voyages' behalf by the factoring company Eurofactor.
For the first half of 2004, CIT nevertheless posted a 36 per cent year-on-year drop in bank debt, to Ђ60m. Its net financial position was around Ђ44m in the red, compared with Ђ73m one year earlier.
Source: Il Sole 24 Ore
