Mobico adjusted profit rises in 2025 but signals stagnant outlook
Mobico Group PLC on Thursday saw its shares surge as it reported a rise in adjusted profit.
Shares in the Birmingham, England-based transportation company jumped 33% to 29.26 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.
Revenue climbed 5.4% to £2.74 billion from £2.60 billion.
The company said pretax loss widened to £58.5 million in 2025 from £46.2 million in 2024. Operating profit fell 36% to £21.9 million from £34.0 million.
Mobico highlighted one-off charges worth £176.1 million from WeDriveU and Moroccan operations, as well as restructuring and efficiency costs and North America School Bus liabilities.
Adjusted pretax profit rose 18% £122.3 million from £103.7 million in 2024.
Adjusted operating profit grew 9.3% to £198 million, above the market consensus of £181 million, from £181.1 million in 2024.
The company was boosted by double-digit revenue growth driven by higher passenger figures in Alsa, Mobico’s Spanish coach subsidiary, and a 4.7% growth in WeDriveU, the corporate and university mobility subsidiary. The performance was partly offset by UK and Germany operations, where revenue fell by 2.1% in a year due to pressure on yields due to competition in UK Coach partly offset by an 8.6% fare rise boosting UK Bus’s net revenue.
The firm noted a 31% operating loss at WeDriveU, mainly due to the contract with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority becoming onerous due to lower-than-projected volumes. That was partly driven by a reduction in volume made by the local authority, which Mobico deems as a breach of contract and for which is seeking legal redress to cover the losses.
Mobico highlighted that it is maintaining ample liquidity to meet its 2027 and 2028 obligations.
For 2026, the company expects to report an adjusted operating profit between £195 million and £210 million, between 1.5% lower and 6.1% higher than £198.0 million in 2025.
Executive Chair Phil White said: ‘Mobico delivered further growth in 2025 and meaningful strategic progress, with Alsa achieving another record year of double-digit revenue growth. This offset a challenging trading environment in the UK and operational issues with the WMATA contract in WeDriveU, for which resolution plans are now in progress.’
‘We continue to progress with our ’Simplify, Strengthen, Succeed’ strategy to strengthen the business. Most notably, we announced in January an agreement in principle had been reached with the German Rail Public Transport Authorities which delivers a sustainable business going forwards. UK Coach is also now largely integrated into Alsa which will reduce overheads and realign the business to a more competitive environment. Together with our other initiatives, we expect to deliver £100 million of annualised cost savings...by the end of 2026,’ he added.
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