Arriva Plc have rise in sales

The train and transport operator has reported a rise of almost 10 per cent in sales, which they say has come from an increase in European train ticket sales and the rise of travellers on their fleet of buses.

“Our underlying financial performance is strong in a challenging environment. Arriva reduced central costs by 17 percent and high fuel charges will reverse substantially next year,” said the CEO of Arriva, David Martin. The net income had fallen because of cheaper tickets prices and higher fuel costs and shortfall of travellers using train services in the UK.

Arriva won the Cross Country rail franchise in 2007 against opposition of Virgin Rail and it has the longest train route on it in the UK. It covers much of England and Scotland and has been profitable for the many years it has been running. They also bid for four European bus companies last year and won them including a service in Spain and one in Switzerland.

The Competition Commission are set to investigate the company after the Office of Fair Trading said they were worried that lack of competition in the multi-million pound bus industry was leading to higher fares on some routes.