Mobico revenue rises 5% ahead of £24m bus sale
Mobico Group’s second-quarter trading update has confirmed its agreed sale of UK Bus, its West Midlands bus operations, to the West Midlands Combined Authority remains on track to complete in November, after the deal was first agreed last month.
The £24m deal covers Mobico’s depots and diesel fleet, built up over roughly 40 years running the majority of urban bus services in and around the West Midlands.
The business currently operates around 1,400 buses, carrying 120 million passenger journeys a year across 54 million miles of routes. A further £5.5m in deferred payments will follow completion, including a final instalment tied to Mobico vacating its Birmingham Central depot by the end of 2029.
UK Bus revenue fell 1.8% year-on-year in the quarter to 30 June, reflecting lower commercial patronage. Mobico said the sale substantially de-risks the group ahead of the region’s transition to bus franchising, due to roll out in phases from late 2027, following the region’s approval of the shift from deregulated services to franchising in May 2025, with a full rollout planned by the end of 2029.
Group-wide, Mobico reported revenue growth of 5.0% year-on-year in the quarter, driven by continued momentum at Spanish operator Alsa and a recovery in German Rail, where revenue rose 19.3% following a return to full operations.
UK Coach revenue fell 16.7%, reflecting reduced passenger numbers and yields alongside a targeted reduction of unprofitable routes. WeDriveU revenue fell 11.8%, largely due to the exit of loss-making contracts, though the group said operations have since stabilised. Full-year guidance remains unchanged.
For Mobico, the sale draws a line under a business that has struggled to turn a meaningful profit in recent years, hampered by rising costs and heavy reliance on local authority funding, with the looming uncertainty of franchising making the business increasingly hard to plan around.
For WMCA, the deal is the clearest sign yet that the region’s move to public control of buses is genuinely happening, following Mayor Richard Parker’s invitation for bids to run the first publicly-owned franchises since deregulation, covering Coventry, North Birmingham and Walsall, with services due to launch in October 2027.
