London Midland bows out on a high reveals parent

London Midland

The former operator of London Midland trains made a profit of more than £6m when it sold former assets from the operation to the franchise’s new provider.

London Midland ceased operations in December 2017, when West Midlands Trains took on responsibility for the service.

Go-Ahead, which was the London Midland parent, revealed the successful when it announced its latest interims.

David Brown, Group Chief Executive, Go-Ahead, said: “I am proud of what we achieved in our 10 years of operating the (London Midland) franchise; passenger satisfaction rose, employee engagement increased and financial performance significantly improved. The experience we have gained from operating this franchise is invaluable to existing and future operations.

“Go-Ahead’s operation of the London Midland franchise ceased on December 9, 2017. Assets with a net book value of £6.1m were sold to the incoming operator for £12.5m resulting in a £6.4m profit.”

He also revealed that London Midland had gone out on a high, with a better than expected performance in its final months helping to boost the group’s combined rail operations, which also includes the GTR and Southeastern franchises.

“A better than expected trading performance towards the end of the London Midland franchise, combined with gains realised on the sale of the franchise’s assets, have resulted in an increase in our full year expectations for the rail division,” he said.

For the first half overall, the group, which also operates a number bus services, saw operating profit rise 19% to £86.9m (H1 2017: £73m).

Revenue saw a 6.6% increase, reaching £1,829.4m (H1 2017: £1,715.6m).

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