Alstom: Profit slashed at London Underground trains maker
Profit at Alstom, the train manufacturer which supplies the London Underground, has been slashed by almost £100m as its turnover fell significantly during its latest financial year.
The Derby-headquartered business has reported a pre-tax profit of £21.9m for the 12 months to 31 March, 2025, down from the £121m it achieved in the prior year.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show its turnover fell from £672.8m to £555.4m over the same period.
The decreases come after Alstom’s turnover had jumped from £489.4m in the year to 31 March, 2023, and its pre-tax profit had grown from £60.8m.
Alstom’s new set of financial accounts also show the value of orders it received in the year fell from £181.9m to £164.4m while it cut its dividend from £210m to £30m.
The company is the UK and Ireland’s largest supplier of new trains and operates a major factory in Derby as well as other locations in Widnes, Crewe, Ilford and Plymouth.
Alstom has built, or is building, around 40 per cent of the UK mainline train fleet as well as the entire fleets in service with London Underground and Dublin Luas.
Major UK companies using Alstom’s trains include Avanti West Coast and Greater Anglia.
The wider Alstom group is headquartered in France and dates back to 1928.
For the same financial year, the group posted sales of €18.5bn while its earnings before interest expenses and income taxes totalled €1.1bn.
Alstom’s plans for train service rejected
A statement signed off by the board said: “Revenue and profitability in the prior year was significantly impacted by revised estimates of total contract profitability on certain contracts leading to a back-trading impact on sales.
“Both the current year and prior year were also impacted by assumptions over the expected duration of long-term maintenance contracts.”
Alstom added: “Orders received by the company can fluctuate significantly year on year as there are typically a relatively low number of high-value orders, as well as the fact that orders are in respect of contracts of a long-term nature.”
The results come after Alstom announced in March 2024 plans to operate its own passenger rail service in the UK.
Under the name Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR), in partnership with SLC Rail, the service would aim to link North Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and London from this year.
However, the proposals were rejected by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in July this year citing insufficient network capacity on the West Coast Main Line.
In early 2024, the future of Alstom’s Derby factory looked in doubt but was saved after two major orders were secured.