(06 Jan 2022, 1:09 pm)streetdeckfan wrote It's not all about how much profit they're making though, Arriva may be making more money, but they're also not making any investments into the services. So when the time comes to update the fleet they're going to have to spend big, and I'd guess very little of that profit has been staying within ANE for them to make those investments. GNE on the other hand, has been continually making investments in the fleet

Looking at Arriva County Durham's accounts, which went up yesterday, they went from making a gross profit of £6.2m to a loss of £4.5m, although due to government grants of £11m, they still made a profit of £1.3m, compared to GNE's overall loss of £4.6m since it seems GNE only received around £4.5m in government grants. 
I just skimmed them so feel free to double check!

It's hard to take anything from the accounts, Arriva's only include 9 months during Covid, GNE only 3 months so it's incomparable really.

Profits make a massive difference when trying to sell something though, old assets will just drop the price that you can ask for something. New assets and no profits is the worst combination as you'd have a high selling price for nothing.

In theory with Arriva if they improved there buses then they'd do it with a promotion which in turn would increase profits even further so it's not wasted money. GNE on the other hand if they make a little profit and already have a new fleet where else can you go to improve money, make a loss and the only option is cuts. I know GNE is (or was) one of GoAhead's worst areas.