(03 Sep 2026, 12:54 pm)Chris 1 wrote Apologies for the late reply to this, I've been on holiday and playing catch up. Am I understanding this correctly - a 30% profit margin? The latest buses magazine has an article on franchising, which states that NEMSA has assumed operators are seeking a profit margin of 10% on deregulated services. However, the most recent accounts for subsidiaries in the area shows only Busways achieve this, with Arriva Northumbria recording 1%; Arriva Durham County 3% and GNE 4%. All post tax. Are we talking about the same thing?
The last set of actual accounts lodged by either Northumbria or Durham County was for the 2023 financial year. They are now exempt from filing accounts on Companies House, so the only more recent accounts available are those for the wider Arriva Group.
However, my understanding is that the numbers I shared are pre-tax in any case, as I understand them to be EBIT figures. EBIT is generally a better measure of underlying financial performance for a bus operation, as it is before interest and tax and is not affected by dividends paid to the owning company.
The figures are also much more recent than the 2023 accounts. The 2025 accounts show a doubling of absolute EBIT compared with 2024, with an overall EBIT margin of 7.7%. While this does not directly evidence the specific numbers I am suggesting for Northumbria/Durham, it does indicate a fairly significant change in the overall trend, which is consistent with the information I was given.
My understanding is that Southern Counties and Midlands were reportedly making heavy losses, meaning other regions must be performing strongly enough to offset those losses and then some, which kind of points into that direction, without absolute confirmation.