Rail losses hit Stagecoach profits

Scotland-based Stagecoach on Tuesday said its pretax profit for the year to the end of April fell 1.5 per cent to £202.5 million on revenues 8.4 per cent higher at £2.59 billion.

“This reduction was principally due to losses incurred at East Midlands Trains in the first half of the year where revenue was below the level forecast when the contract was originally awarded, and the premium payments made to the Department for Transport were agreed,” the company said in a statement.

Stagecoach, which is shortlisted for a number of new franchises, added that East Midlands Trains had returned to profit in the second half and South West Trains continued to perform well.

Stagecoach, which transports some 2.5 million passengers a day, said its British bus and North American coaches unit performed well during the year.

Stagecoach’s bus services in Yorkshire cover Hull, Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Pontefract and Wakefield and employ more than 1,300 staff.

They operate about 440 vehicles and serve about 57 million passengers annually.

The group also runs the Sheffield Supertram, which carries about 15 million passengers annually, employs 285 staff and runs 25 trams.