Shares in Britain's troubled rail network operator Railtrackrose by nearly 4 per cent today after its chairman said he was comfortable with profit forecasts and the prospect of raising funds.
"I think there is no reason to believe that we will be a long way away from forecasts that are out there," chairman Mr John Robinson said in an interview.
Mr Robinson also said that Railtrack would be able to raise the necessary funds to maintain and modernise the rail network.
The company said in May it planned to raise between $3 billion and £4 billion sterling in debt over the next couple of years.
But the Strategic Rail Authority's chairman, Mr Alastair Morton, cast doubt last week on the company's ability to raise funds from the capital markets without more government support.
"There is absolutely no reason to believe that we will not raise the money that we need to run the railway," Mr Robinson said.
Railtrack was privatised in 1996 and its shares rose to a November 1998 peak of £17.68. But two fatal train crashes and two public inquiries putting the blame on its ailing network, as well as doubts about its funding have taken their toll on its share price. The share are trading in London this afternoon at £3.45.