Newport Bus accounts reveal £2.3m loss after wind up warning

The latest published accounts show turnover rising to £13.1 million, cash reserves increasing to £5.6 million and the company remaining comfortably profitable.

On the surface, there is little sign of a business in trouble.

Which is why many people were surprised to learn that Newport Transport, the council-owned company behind Newport Bus, recently found itself facing a Companies House strike-off notice after missing a filing deadline.

But after reading the company's latest accounts, the real story may be buried deep in the small print.

For years, Newport Bus has been navigating the aftermath of Covid.

Passenger numbers collapsed during the pandemic and, like operators across Wales, the company relied heavily on government support to keep services running.

The 2024 accounts (the most recent available) reveal just how important that support was.

While turnover from operations was £13.1 million, the company also received more than £7.3 million in government grant income during the year. The previous year, that figure was more than £9.4 million.

The directors themselves say this funding helped bridge the gap caused by reduced passenger numbers.

Without that support, the picture would have looked very different.

The directors repeatedly warn about the challenge created by the end of direct Welsh Government support and the industry's struggle to recover fully from Covid.

Passenger numbers improved by 19 per cent during the year, but remained below pre-pandemic levels.

What happened next is perhaps the most revealing part of the document.

Hidden in the going concern statement is a disclosure that, by November 2024, management accounts were showing losses of £2.3 million.

The directors attribute this to the difficult transition from Covid-era support schemes to a new system of tendered contracts, combined with a heavy reliance on expensive agency drivers.

That should make every Newport resident sit up and take notice.

This is not a company standing still and hoping for the best. The accounts show Newport Transport deliberately reinventing itself.

It has expanded its coach operation, partnered with FlixBus, added services to London airports and grown beyond Newport and Monmouthshire into Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

The directors openly describe Newport Transport as becoming a "major regional operator".

Perhaps that strategy will prove to be the right one. Perhaps the expansion will generate the income needed to protect local bus services for years to come.

But Newport residents deserve to know whether it is working.

The overdue accounts for 2025 are now far more important than a Companies House filing deadline.

They should tell us whether the losses disclosed by directors were temporary growing pains or signs of deeper financial pressures.

Newport Bus remains owned by Newport City Council and, ultimately, by the people of this city.

The last published accounts show a business with cash in the bank, a clean audit and ambitious plans for growth.

What they also show is a company standing at a crossroads.

The next set of accounts should reveal whether Newport Bus has found the right road.

Or whether the end of the Covid support era has left it facing a much tougher journey than anyone realised.