British dreams

摘要

When the British government privatised its nuclear-power arm, British Energy, in 1996, it launched the shares on an eager market at £2.03. By 1999 they were well over £7. Then power prices crashed; a state bail-out left the company just afloat, but its shares were almost worthless. After a one-for-fifty consolidation, they rejoined the London market this January at about £2.50. Within weeks the firm was reporting nine-month losses of £349m (about $645m), even though each megawatt-hour from its eight plants had fetched some 25% more than they did a year earlier.