Alstom is a large French company whose businesses are power generation and manufacturing trains (e.g. the TGV and Eurostar), and ships (e.g. the Queen Mary 2). According to the company website, in the year 2001/02 Alstom had annual sales of over €23 billion, and employed more than 118,000 people in over 70 countries.

The current CEO is Patrick Kron who has succeeded to Pierre Bilger

Financial information

Alstom is traded in the stock markets of Paris and New York and until November 2003 was aslo traded on the London stock exchange. When the markets closed on 12 March, 2003, its market capitalization was €380.2 million

History

The name of the company derives from the French region of Alsace and the surname of the engineer Elihu Thomson. The company always writes it in capitals, ALSTOM, even though it is not an initialism. It seems to have failed to get the press (and Wikipedia) to follow its lead.

It was formed in 1998 from the heavy engineering interests of Britain's GEC and France's Alcatel Alsthom. Shares were initially at a price roughly equivalent to 32 euros. The price fell steeply following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when a number of cruise liner orders failed.

On 12 March, 2003, shares dipped 50 per cent in one day, and finished at 1.36 euros. At this point it was announced that the the most profitable division of the company would be sold off: its power transmission interests. In January 2004 these were transferred to Areva.

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