(06 Jan 2022, 1:30 pm)Chris 1 wrote True - it's not, but the profitability of any business will always determine the future of it.

In terms of ANE, again I agree that the fleet is in need of investment and that most of the profit generated will be squirrelled back off to Germany.  At some point that will change though, the lack of investment and general interest in Arriva by DB is purely because they want to sell and don't want spend.  With investment and interest, I personally see potential in large parts of ANE.

Reading a bit further into the accounts, it seems like that is the case. While I'm no accountant, it looks like at the end of each day all money is sent back to DB, and Arriva have to ask nicely to use any of it.

Liquidity risk

The company voluntarily participates in a group cash pooling arrangement operated by its ultimate parent, Deutsche Bahn AG ('DB'). This is a long-standing arrangement operated by DB to manage the liquidity needs of DB group companies, and the company has been a party to this arrangement for several years. Under the arrangement substantially all the company's cash balances are swept into the group cash pool at the end of each business day. The company has a positive cash pooling balance at the balance sheet date, and the directors expect the company's pooled cash balance to remain positive over the going concern assessment period.
The company is currently dependent on daily access to its funds in the cash pool for the funds required to operate and to support the going concern assumption. As the terms of the company's agreement with DB do not provide explicit rights for immediate access to these funds on request, this gives rise to a potential liquidity risk that funds may not be available as required to settle liabilities during the period of 12 months from the date of approval of the financial statements, and the directors acknowledge that this indicates the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. However, the directors consider this risk to be highly improbable, as such action would contradict internal group policies and would be inconsistent with the past practice.