Diamond Bus owner slips to £1m annual loss

The business, which has its head office in Tividale, expects to return to growth after the coronavirus crisis. The loss compared to a £3.6m profit in 2018-2019.

Rotala operates bus routes for businesses, local authorities and the general public.

For the year to the end of November turnover was up 13 per cent to £76 million.

Since mid-March last year, the company has concentrated on aligning bus services with local requirements, reducing the costs of operation where possible and conserving cash.

The financial and operational performance of the company throughout the Covid-19 crisis has been underpinned by the key support of government at local and national level.

UK bus operators are guaranteed to make neither a profit nor a loss at the normalised statutory pre-tax profit line for as long as the support package is in place.

Lockdown impact

Passenger numbers rose steadily throughout the summer reaching a peak in early October of approximately 60 per cent of the levels seen in the same period of 2019, before falling back again to about 45 per cent of those levels in the November lockdown.

Early indications from the latest lockdown period put in place by the Government on January 4 are that passenger numbers have fallen to about 25 per cent of normal levels.

Simon Dunn, chief executive of Rotala, said that Government support continues to enable Rotala to provide the bus services needed by key workers and the general public to go about their essential business.

"The Government's vaccination programme promises to provide the means to exit from the Covid-19 restrictions later in the year. In the view of the board, the Covid-19 crisis has in no way halted the winds of change sweeping through the bus industry. Therefore, once the crisis has passed, the board expects further growth opportunities to arise, both organic and by acquisition, and is confident that the group will be well placed to take advantage of such opportunities," he explained.