Train Operating Companies’ pandemic profits top £300 million and show industry leaking cash for dividends •
Management fees have been published for the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) under their contracts with the DfT for the period from April to September 2021.1 This supplements existing data for the period from March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, to March 2021. These management fees represent the TOCs profits, available to be turned into dividends for their owning groups.
•
While this latest data is still 18 months out of date, it is the latest data available because the contractual profit margins for the TOCs are now almost all set at 1.5%, it gives an indication of the scale of the profit extraction that has taken place since the pandemic and the scale of that which can be expected going forwards.
•
Using the data we have to project forwards, we can estimate that by September 2022, train operating companies are likely to have made £310 million in profits, all of which is available to be turned into dividends, with the Secretary of State’s approval. By September this year, that is likely to be in excess of £412 million (Table 1 below).
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1124137/ema-and-erma-performance-scores-andfees.ods 1