Second half revenues rise 10% for London Midland

RAIL operator London Midland has seen a 10% rise in revenue during the past six months with passenger journeys rising around 5%.

Transport group Go-Ahead has not put any monetary value on the figures in its pre-close update but it said it was pleased with the performance of its rail franchises, which together with it bus business had been better than expected.

The group, which also operates the Southern and Southeastern franchises, said revenue growth had been robust during the second quarter in all three businesses.

“As previously noted, reported passenger journeys across all train companies increased significantly due to a change in Department for Transport methodology in Travelcard allocations. After allowing for this change in methodology, underlying passenger journey growth is around 2% in all three franchises,” it said.

David Brown, group chief executive of Go-Ahead, said: “I am pleased with the continued robust performance across our operations. Our bus and rail divisions have both seen commercial revenue growth in the year to date. Performance in our Southern franchise was better than anticipated, and as a result our forecasts for the full year to 28 June 2014 are slightly ahead of our previous expectations.”

He said the performance of all three rail franchises had been good in the year to date.

In outlook, the group said it remained in a good financial position with strong cash generation and a solid balance sheet, underpinning its dividend policy and allowing it flexibility to pursue value-adding opportunities.

“We continue to focus on our key strengths of providing high quality, locally-focused and innovative transport services,” it said.