Passenger numbers lift Stagecoach

Virgin Rail's revenues have been hit by track maintenance work

Increased passenger numbers at both its UK bus and rail operations have lifted revenues at travel group Stagecoach.

In the half-year to 12 October, the company saw like-for-like bus revenues - which strips out the impact of new services - up 8.3% from a year earlier.

Revenues at its directly-owned UK rail operations were up 8.3% across the six months, again on a like-for-like basis.

However, it said revenues at Virgin Rail, in which it has a 49% stake, were down by 0.1%.

It blamed the fall on rail maintenance work carried out this year by Network Rail on the West Coast Mainline, for which Virgin Rail has the franchise.

However, Stagecoach added that, because Virgin Rail is compensated for this disruption, its overall profitability "has not been adversely affected".

Looking ahead, Stagecoach said it "should be relatively resilient to the effects of declining economic growth".

Stagecoach released the figures in a trading update ahead of the release in December of its results for the six months to 31 October.

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