Deutsche Bahn Cuts 2005 Profit Forecast

Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned rail operator, has scaled back its ambitions for earnings next year, chairman Hartmut Mehdorn revealed in a newspaper interview published on Monday. "We want to improve profits by €300 million ($399 million) next year," Mehdorn told the Financial Times Deutschland on the sidelines of a tourism conference in Palma de Mallorca. According to Deutsche Bahn's medium-term financial plans, profits should have improved by €500-600 million in 2005, Mehdorn said. Loss-making Deutsche Bahn hope to return to profit at operating level this year, thanks largely to a freeze on investment. The rail operator's earnings are too low to allow the company to go public as hoped in 2006. The flotation is now likely to happen in 2008.