Key performance indicators
Measuring our progress, both financially and operationally
Financial
Adjusted Operating Profit (£m)
2022: £197.3m
Relevance to strategy
A key measure of the overall performance of the business.
We are focused on driving growth in operating profit in order to generate higher and sustainable returns for our shareholders and providing the platform for further growth for all our stakeholders including our employees, our customers and our partners.
Performance
Adjusted Operating Profit decreased to £168.6m (FY 22: £197.3m) as benefits of volume recovery and in-year benefit from pricing and Accelerate 1.0 cost reduction programme were offset by cost inflation, reduction in Covid subsidies and lower profitability in Germany.
Free cash flow (£m)
2022: £160.5m
Relevance to strategy
Strong cash generation provides the funding to invest in initiatives to drive our strategy.
Our focus on cash generation ensures that we are running the business efficiently, converting profit to cash to enable investment into the business; reduction in leverage returns to shareholders; and providing the platform for further growth for all our stakeholders.
Performance
Free cash inflow of £163.7m represents strong Free Cash Flow conversion of 97% (2022: 81%). The improvement in Cash Flow Conversion is a result of lower net maintenance capital expenditure as the Group accelerated capital expenditure at the end of December 2022 to secure production slots, resulting in lower cash outflows in 2023. Remuneration linkage
Return on capital employed (%)
2022 restated: 7.6%
Relevance to strategy
Demonstrates how efficiently the Group is deploying its capital resources to generate operating profit.
A focus on ROCE ensures that we maintain a disciplined approach to capital investment and continue to invest in those areas in which we deliver the best returns. This ensures that we maximise returns to shareholders for the capital they invest.
Performance
ROCE of 7.0% remains below our targeted level and is reflective of the year-on-year reduction in Adjusted Operating Profit. During the year the Group invested £136 million of net maintenance capital, predominantly in replacing our fleet in our existing operations, and £18m in growth capital expenditure including vehicles to service new contracts in ALSA and North America.
Non-financial
Safety - Fatalities and Weighted Injuries
2022: 0.003
Relevance to strategy
Safety is of paramount importance to a public transport operator and being the ‘safest’ is one of the five Evolve outcomes.
Safety is at the heart of our values and is our priority for both our customers and our employees.
High safety standards also help to drive sustainable growth through customer loyalty and new business wins.
Performance
The 2023 performance for FWI per million miles is in line with the Group target (0.006) for the year and was comparable to the results achieved in 2021, although below the performance in 2022. This is primarily because the 2023 result includes two fatalities, whereas there were no fatalities included within the 2022 result. These fatalities – as well as the other preventable injuries which are included within the result – have been investigated and appropriate actions have been taken.
Although the 2023 Group FWI target of 0.006 was achieved, there is no bonus pay out on this metric for the Executive Directors because of the fatalities.
Passenger journeys
2022: 977.0mm
Relevance to Strategy
Growth in passenger journeys is a leading indicator for customer satisfaction and hence growth, and modal shift from cars to public transport. Having the ‘most satisfied customers’ is a key aim of the Evolve strategy.
Mobico is targeting increased passenger ridership as a longer-term driver of sustainable value for both the business and the environment, with public transport a key solution to lowering carbon emissions and easing travel congestion.
Performance
Passenger numbers have continued to grow strongly, rising 10% in 2023, surpassing 1 billion for the first time. Discretionary travel continues to grow with our UK Coach business growing patronage by 25% and our ALSA long haul business growing patronage by 28%. Our UK Bus business grew patronage by 8% and continued to recover throughout the year. Our Moroccan business had another record year with further passenger growth of 3%.
GHG emmissions*
2022: 40.06
Relevance to Strategy
Reducing the environmental impact of transport is core to our purpose and links to the Evolve strategy outcome: being the environmental leader.
Per passenger, train, bus and coach travel is significantly less polluting than cars and, as such, modal shift is the single most important thing we can do to drive the climate change and clean air agendas. We are also committed to making public transport itself greener and have adopted Science-Based targets.
Performance
Tonnes of carbon emissions for Scope 1 and 2 reduced by 2.5% per million passenger kilometer.
Total Scope 1, 2 and 3 absolute emissions reduced by 6.8% overall on prior year.
We expect to make further progress as we accelerate our transition to ZEVs over the coming years.
On-time Performance
2022: 91.1%
Relevance to strategy
Improving OTP is a key measure of reliability, driving customer retention and the ability to win new contracts. It links directly to the Evolve strategy outcome: most reliable. Our reputation for reliability, whether it be for fare paying passengers on our buses or with school boards and local passenger transport authorities, is vital to drive growth across the each of our businesses.
OTP is also a driver for achieving operating efficiencies across the Group, helping to improve financial returns.
Performance
In 2023, OTP was slightly lower than in previous years. Our ability to operate punctual services was impacted by increasing congestion and road traffic levels alongside driver shortages, particularly in our UK business. To combat these effects, we continuously focus on initiatives to improve punctuality. We have a relentless focus on driver recruitment and have introduced sophisticated digital scheduling platforms in our Bahrain and ALSA businesses to optimise network performance, whilst we actively monitor our UK networks to ensure efficiency and maximise OTP. In the West Midlands, we work closely with our partners, Transport for West Midlands, to jointly develop bus priority infrastructure. In our North America School Bus business, our focus on driver recruitment and retention, route restoration and optimisation, and ensuring operational excellence, meaning we delivered OTP performance ahead of 2022 levels, contrary to the overall trend.
Employer Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
2022: +7 
Relevance to Strategy
The eNPS score is a key measure of how committed our employees are to the Group and is an indicator of areas of strength and also where we can improve in order to retain and grow our talent in the business, in order to support future growth. It links directly to our Evolve strategy outcome: employer of choice.
Performance
This measure was introduced in 2022 and is used as a base to measure our performance in the future and inform our action plan. Part of a suite of measures used to gauge employee sentiment, engagement across the Group also increased 4% to 59%. In 2023, we achieved 73% participation across the Group. There has been significant improvements for ALSA (engagement +8 pts, eNPS +7 pts) and UK (engagement +7 pts, eNPS +10 pts). There was stability accross School Bus (engagement +2pts, eNPS +1pt, Shuttle & Transit (engagement +0, eNPS -2pts) and Bahrain (engagement -1pt, eNPS +9pts).
Creating long-term value
Our Belief: quality mass transit is fundamental to a safe, green and prosperous future
Financial overview
Group Income Statement, Group Balance Sheet, Group Cash Flow Statement, Five Year Summary.