Arriva UK starts move towards sales/closure.

[Deleted]

Arriva have now posted the first of this years accounts (almost all operations being overdue) on company house for the Merseyside operations.

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01990871

It confirms in the accounts that DB are planning to divest the UK operations within the next 12 months & they've also taken the unusual approach of writing off the book value of both the fleet & the property (including the fairly new MCVs & brand new Hydrogen ADLs) turning what would of been a £7M profit into a eye watering £41.3M loss. Looking at the note 2 in the accounts it's due to them not knowing exactly how much the fleet would be worth on the open market so have written them off to zero (allowing whoever buys them not to worry over depreciation)

It's expected now that all ops will have their fleet value written off & that's the reason for them being overdue plus new vehicles in some areas being cancelled, possibly allowing sales to smaller operators outside the 'big 5' or making a sale of the full UK Ops as 1 more likely.

[mattb7tl]

Aug 15, 2023 13:23:13 GMT 1 @cp2012 said:

Arriva have now posted the first of this years accounts (almost all operations being overdue) on company house for the Merseyside operations.

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01990871

It confirms in the accounts that DB are planning to divest the UK operations within the next 12 months & they've also taken the unusual approach of writing off the book value of both the fleet & the property (including the fairly new MCVs & brand new Hydrogen ADLs) turning what would of been a £7M profit into a eye watering £41.3M loss. Looking at the note 2 in the accounts it's due to them not knowing exactly how much the fleet would be worth on the open market so have written them off to zero (allowing whoever buys them not to worry over depreciation)

It's expected now that all ops will have their fleet value written off & that's the reason for them being overdue plus new vehicles in some areas being cancelled, possibly allowing sales to smaller operators outside the 'big 5' or making a sale of the full UK Ops as 1 more likely.

This situation is proper heating up!
They are definitely trying so much harder than before to sell off the company. Exciting and scary in one way.

[Deleted]

My biggest concern is what happens if no one is willing to buy any of the operations,for example in Yorkshire? If no wants to buy the operation, then does that mean, no services for a lot of people, people can't get to work, pensioners cant go anywhere, ect.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2023 13:50:44 GMT 1 @scrooge said:

My biggest concern is what happens if no one is willing to buy any of the operations,for example in Yorkshire? If no wants to buy the operation, then does that mean, no services for a lot of people, people can't get to work, pensioners cant go anywhere, ect.

Yorkshire was previously one of the top performers for Arriva UK so i'd say they are fairly safe to find a buyer. If any operation was going to be a struggle to sell it would probably be Kent & Essex, as that was close to loss making even pre-covid but there's enough smaller operators around that area to pick up the pieces if Arriva did just pull the plug.

[mattb7tl]

Aug 15, 2023 13:50:44 GMT 1 @scrooge said:

My biggest concern is what happens if no one is willing to buy any of the operations,for example in Yorkshire? If no wants to buy the operation, then does that mean, no services for a lot of people, people can't get to work, pensioners cant go anywhere, ect.

If that happened it would make an extremely good case for public ownership but as mentioned we're more than safe assuming the worst case scenario.

[WYBS]

I'm really interested to see who will possibly take on Yorkshire, considering franchising won't be happening for at least a few years (if ever). Transdev would have snapped up some depots under Mr Hornby, but I can't see the new management being too keen.

Are First in a place to expand that significantly?

I've never ever liked Arriva, so I would like to see Go Ahead take on their operations in these parts (hopefully not end up like Go North East, with their losses).

[Deleted]

Won't First not be allowed to buy Arriva Yorkshire because of a Monopoly, or those regulations whatever they called.


I mean I'd like to see Go Ahead come to Yorkshire. Could be an interesting idea for National Express to expand their bus operations

[stephen01]

Aug 15, 2023 14:49:54 GMT 1 @scrooge said:

Won't First not be allowed to buy Arriva Yorkshire because of a Monopoly, or those regulations whatever they called.


I mean I'd like to see Go Ahead come to Yorkshire. Could be an interesting idea for National Express to expand their bus operations

Go Ahead are already in yorkshire as they bought (and now run) East Yorkshire.

[steve440]

Arriva would not necessarily be sold to another operator, it could be hived off by DB and launched on its own on the London stock market or sold to a fund management group.

[deerfold]

They were previously talking about selling Arriva UK bus operations as a unit. I'm not sure that's changed.

[Penfold]

All,
Please, with all these rumours flying around can we be mindful of all the employees of Arriva, who like as per normal have no more an idea of what is going on than all the members of this group. Whilst it may be 'exciting times' from an enthusiasts point, it could potentially lead to redundancies or change of contracts if or when a new operator happens to take over the Arriva operations.

Thanks
Penfold

[Deleted]

Lets hope nothing happens to your jobs or anything Penfold, you guys have my full support.

[deerfold]

Looks like there's serious talks with I Squared Capital.

mobilitywatch.dk/nyheder/persontransport/article16380460.ece

[WYBS]

Aug 26, 2023 22:34:57 GMT 1 deerfold said:

Looks like there's serious talks with I Squared Capital.

mobilitywatch.dk/nyheder/persontransport/article16380460.ece

The same asset-stripping Yanks who tried to buy First Bus?

[MetrolineGA1511]

I wouldn't be surprised if DB agree to sell Arriva to I Squared more cheaply than they could simply to offload it quickly.

Then I Squared may divest it piecemeal and maybe close the least promising operations to make a profit upon resale.

[Penfold]

www.akm.ru/eng/news/i-squared-capital-plans-to-acquire-arriva-from-deutsche-bahn-for-1-7-billion/

Penfold

[mattb7tl]

Reports of the sale being close to a sale. Title seems a bit strange but presume it is for the group as a whole, and not just London.
Not yet been finalised and usually with transport companies they get to the last stage and drop out of the sale as we've seen many times with other companies
www.ft.com/content/59763935-8865-4677-9af3-34d98af62a3d