Rail firm on track for sales boost
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by Trevor Sturgess
tsturgess@thekmgroup.co.uk
Southeastern, the Kent rail operation, steamed to sales of half
a billion pounds in the past year.
The business, which is part of the Go-Ahead bus and rail group,
earned £509m in the year to June.
It also racked up 158m passenger journeys, with 70 per cent made
by commuters.
Customers have already been told that they face a 7.8 per cent
fare increase from January.
The new high-speed trains through the county contributed £33m to
sales revenue, but the net cost was around £50m.
Southeastern's passenger revenue was up 7.5 per on the previous
year, with passenger numbers up 1.4 per cent.
But operating profit was £13m lower than the previous year.
Go-Ahead, which also runs Southern and London Midland rail
franchises, reported total pre-tax profits of £88.7m, compared to a
£23.6m loss in 2009.
It blamed lower operating profit in its rail operations (down
from £61.5m to £37.3m) on lower Government subsidy.
Chairman Sir Patrick Brown, said: "We are pleased with the
progress we have made this year in challenging economic
conditions.
"All of our bus and rail operations have increased passenger
revenue, highlighting the quality and value for money of our
services. We are in good financial shape and continue to believe in
the fundamental strengths of public transport."
Looking ahead, he added: "We continue to be cautious on the near
term prospects for the UK economy and the outlook for the next
financial year remains difficult to predict, including any impact
from the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review expected to be
announced in October 2010."
Thursday, September 02 2010
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