(PARIS) - The Euro Disney theme park group said Thursday it had cut its annual net loss in half in its just-ended fiscal year and reported a record number of visitors in the period.

The company said its net loss for the 2006-2007 fiscal year was reduced to 41.6 million euros (61 million dollars) from 88.6 million in 2005-2006 as sales at its Disneyland Paris resort jumped 12 percent to 1.220 billion euros.

The number of visitors rose by 1.7 million to 14.5 million, with hotel occupancy at its parks climbing to 89.3 percent from 83.5.

"These are historic records," said Ignace Lahoud, finance director for the 15-year-old Disneyland Europe theme park.

"Our priority is to return to profit as quickly as possible but there's still a ways to go."

But at the opeating level the company turned a profit of 50.8 million euros after sustaining a loss of 2.4 million in the prior year.

Costs and expenses grew 7.0 percent because of additional labour and other direct costs incurred to support the increased resort activity, labour rate inflation and bigger marketing expenses, the company said.

"In 2008, we will continue to execute our growth strategy and remain focused on driving this business toward profitability," Chairman Karl Holz said in a statement.

bur/nh

EURO DISNEY

Text and Picture Copyright 2007 AFP. All other Copyright 2007 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.