Our 2018 annual report has been published today (13 June) showing an improved company performance which has allowed us to increase the dividend to our public sector owners to £7.7m up from £6.8m last year. The report also shows a 5.1% increase in turnover from £152.9m in 2017 to £160.6m in 2018 and an investment of £11.4m in our asset portfolio including the purchase of 91 passenger vehicles, adding around 10% to the size of our fleet.
Jim McFarlane, Chair of Lothian, said:
Lothian continues to contribute to the local and wider economy, creating new job opportunities and investing heavily in the newest technology and vehicles for the benefit of our customers.
I’m really pleased that our annual accounts released today demonstrate that we are continuing to grow our revenues, whilst also investing in the development and expansion of our business.
Our performance during 2018 and effective management of increasing cost pressures also mean that we can return a £7.7m dividend to our shareholders.
Richard Hall, Managing Director of Lothian, added:
We have continued to adapt and develop our business by reviewing new opportunities and how we evolve both our current and future public transport offerings.
Our results for the year are in line with our forecasted expectations and significantly show an overall revenue increase of 5.1% over the previous year driven by the exploitation of growth opportunities, delivering a profit before tax of £2.3m.
Lothian has faced significant operating and cost pressures driven by economic change and inflation. We anticipate that these cost pressures will not only remain but also increase in the future and we continue to work proactively to address and mitigate the impact of these in order to maintain our required investment and returns.
2018 also saw us review and implement significant changes to our bus depreciation policy driven by rapidly changing emission regulations driving fleet renewals. As a result our bus depreciation term was decreased from 15 years to 12 years.