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National Express owner Mobico has announced the departure of its boss as the transport giant unveiled deeper losses following “challenges” in the UK and Germany.
Chief executive Ignacio Garat will step down from the role on Wednesday.
Phil White, the former chief executive of National Express, will become Mobico’s executive chairman on a temporary basis while it searches for a new boss.
Helen Weir, Mobico’s chairwoman, said that with the company recently selling its US school buses, and reporting its full-year results, “we agreed with Ignacio that now was the right time for a change in leadership”.
Mr Garat said that “the last two years have not been without their challenges as we have had to respond and adapt to a series of market headwinds”, but added: “It has been a privilege to work alongside the team.”
The company announced last week that it had struck a deal worth up to 608 million US dollars (£453 million) to sell its North American school buses.
The division had been weighing on the business’s earnings, with it grappling with recovery since the pandemic, drivers’ wages jumping and, more recently. potential fleet cost inflation from US tariffs.
Meanwhile, Mobico said it has faced “challenges” including driver shortages and rail repair work leading to train cancellations, and consequently fines from regulators, impacting its German rail business.
It also flagged weaknesses with its UK bus and coach arms but said cost-cutting, fewer strikes compared with the previous year and higher prices were helping improve profitability.
Mobico’s leading UK bus network is in the West Midlands while it also runs the country’s largest scheduled coach service under the National Express brand.
The group reported a pre-tax loss of £609.3 million for 2024, significantly deeper than the £120.1 million loss recorded for 2023.
Mobico said it had been “another year characterised in part by significant, continuing challenges in some businesses and some consequently disappointing results”, but that 2024 had been “another year of hard work and meaningful positive change”.
On an adjusted basis, which strips out what it considers to be one-off costs during the year, pre-tax profits edged up to £101.1 million.
Revenues rose by about 8% to £3.4 billion for the year.
Looking ahead, the firm said it expects further “recovery” in the UK and Germany, and to make “progress” with revenues and adjusted operating profits.
English (US) ·