Virgin Rail revenues rise 3.1% despite West Coast franchise upheaval

TRANSPORT group Stagecoach, which owns the minority stake in Virgin Rail Group, has said the West Coast Mainline operator continued to see a rise in revenue during its last financial year despite the upheavals surrounding the aborted franchise.

In a pre-close trading update, Stagecoach sad Virgin’s revenues rose 3.1% in the 48 weeks ending March 31, 2013.

The performance was less than Stagecoach’s main UK Rail operation, which saw a 5.4% increase during the same period.

Stagecoach said in the update: “The overall profitability of the group has remained good and there is no change to our expected adjusted earnings per share for the year ending April 30, 2013.”
 
Like-for-like revenue growth for the financial year to date saw bus operations rise 3.6% and the group North American bus business by 9.7%.

In outlook it said: “Overall current trading remains good and the prospects for the group remain positive.”

The group will publish its preliminary results for the year to April 30, 2013 on June 26.