 More people are choosing to travel by train, Stagecoach says |
Transport group Stagecoach has unveiled a profits jump which it says was helped by people switching to buses and trains because of environmental concerns. The Perth, Scotland-based company said underlying pre-tax profit rose 38% to �162m in the 12 months to 30 April. Revenues grew by 12% to �1.5bn.
News of the strong results pushed Stagecoach's shares up by 5.69%.
Stagecoach runs South West Trains and Megabus, and recently won the contract for the East Midlands rail franchise.
'Modal shift'
The company's chief executive Brian Souter said that environmental issues had "a major impact on both bus and rail".
 |  We consider this to be a very strong set of figures |
"In the south, particularly the cathedral cities, we're seeing a modal shift onto the bus," he added, saying the commuters were looking for "high quality and green" transport alternatives to the car.
Mr Souter said that Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, Gloucester, Winchester and Canterbury had all seen a noticeable shift from cars to public transport.
He explained that on longer routes, from cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, many consumers now seemed to prefer to travel by train rather than aeroplane.
"We consider this to be a very strong set of figures," said analysts at Deutsche Bank.
"UK Bus in particular is very strong," they continued. "Once the new rail franchises bed down, we would see a similar story of profits growth developing once again in rail."
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