Accounts show that the rolling stock company Porterbrook distributed £80m to its overseas shareholders, mainly, last year. This has fueled calls for Britain to nationalise its trains.
In 2023, the firm’s train-leasing arm generated profits of £144m. At that time, strikes were still taking place over pay freezes and many passengers were facing cancellations and fare increases of nearly 6%.
The figures were described by unions as “shocking, but not surprising” because Porterbrook and rolling stock companies continued to pay large dividends despite the decline in rail revenues.
Mary Grant’s pay at Porterbrook rose to nearly £1.4m, more than twice that of Network Rail’s chief executive.
According to the accounts filed in December, Porterbrook Holdings’ leasing arm paid out more than £150m in dividends to its parent company Porterbrook in the twelve months leading up to December 2023.
The holding company paid £80m to its shareholders. This was led by Allianz, the Canadian pension fund AIM and the insurer Allianz. This is the second consecutive year that it has returned £80m to its shareholders.
The unions say that the hundreds millions of dollars in profits diverted abroad should be reinvested in rail. The Labour Party has begun legislating to renationalise the train operating companies, but not rolling stock firms that would require huge capital expenditure.
Aslef’s spokesperson, a representative of the union representing train drivers, stated: “These figures are shocking but not surprising. John Major’s 1994 privatisation of RoSCos (the rolling stock companies) was the worst example of Tories privatisations.
The new Labour government has done a fantastic job in bringing back the passenger companies to public ownership. The government now has to focus on the rolling stock and freight companies that are ripping off the taxpayers. “We have to take their snouts off the public trough.”
Porterbrook has spent £3.5bn in rolling stock, and hundreds of millions on upgrading fleets and experimenting with green technology.
A spokesperson stated: “Porterbrook can invest and innovate to ensure the future of railways because our shareholders fund us. In the normal course, we pay dividends when it is appropriate.”
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