PASSENGER revenues increase at London Midland while its parent company Go-Ahead Group posted a pre-tax profit £50.7m for the second half of 2010.
In its half year results for the six months ended January 1, 2011, Go-Ahead’s pre-tax profit climbed by 1.4% and its operating profit increased from £54.2m to £59m year-on-year.
Its rail division, Govia, is owned 65% through a joint venture with Keolis owning the other 35%.
For London Midland, passenger revenue increased by 3.7% to £98.2m, compared with £94.8m and passenger volumes rose by 0.9%.
The statement said that cost control remained a key requirement to break-even in the franchise and initiatives continued towards delivering the objective.
Revenues in its rail division overall rose from £754.1m to £811.6m with an operating profit of £22.1m, an increase of £2.2m.
Go-Ahead chief executive Keith Ludeman said: “While we remain cautious on the outlook for the economy, we are confident with the underlying strengths of our business.
“Like-for-like passenger numbers increased by 1.7% to well over one billion per annum.
“Whilst rail remains difficult to predict, we now expect our full year operating profit across our rail and bus businesses to be higher than we previously anticipated and around the same as achieved last year.
“Looking ahead, the political and economic fundamentals of public transport remain strong.
“We are now firmly focused on bus and rail, with a strong cash position to support organic and acquisitive growth in the UK and North America while maintaining our dividend.”
