Commuters forced to swallow season-ticket increases this year helped boost revenues at Stagecoach, which today reported a 5.4% jump in sales from its South West Trains division in the year to April.
Sales at Virgin Rail — which Stagecoach owns alongside Virgin Group, running trains from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester — rose 3.1%. Its West Coast Line, whose £13 billion franchise was initially awarded to FirstGroup last August, triggering a legal challenge and the contract’s cancellation, will now not face a new operator until 2017.
Revenues from Stagecoach’s London bus routes inched up 1.2%. Bus takings in the rest of the country, including the cheap Megabus coach business and the Oxford Tube, rose 3.6%. In the US, Stagecoach’s Megabus and Coach USA brands saw revenues rise 9.7%.
“Overall current trading remains good and the prospects for the group remain positive,” Stagecoach said.
