Scottish Citylink Coaches has seen its profits fall almost 29 per cent following a sharp rise in costs after introducing new services.
The company, which runs intercity services around Scotland and to London, saw its turnover increase three per cent from £43.8 million to £45.1m in 2014.
Annual accounts recently filed at Companies House show a hike in operating charges from £36.4m to £39.4m which resulted in pre-tax profits dipping from £5.6m to just short of £4m.
The business, a joint venture between Stagecoach and international transport group ComfortDelGro, maintained its dividend payment at £5m.
Writing in the accounts the directors said the growth in revenue was “primarily due to the introduction of new services within the network”.
It launched additional journeys across a number of popular routes in the summer including Glasgow to Fort William, Skye, Loch Lomond, Oban as well as Inverness to the likes of Ullapool and Skye.
There were also additional stops on the link from Glasgow city centre to Edinburgh Airport and late night services during the Edinburgh Festival.
In the accounts the fall in profits was put down to “losses sustained on the introduction of new services” which included the overnight sleeper service to London.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Citylink said: "2014 marked the first full year of both our overnight sleepercoach services and our new CitylinkAir product which required start-up investment.
"Operating costs across the bus industry have continued to rise. In addition, there has been a reduction in the rate of reimbursement bus operators receive from the Scottish Government for carrying concessionary passengers free of charge.
"However, we are continuing to work hard to attract even more customers on to our services across Scotland and to ensure we are using our resources to deliver journeys that meet the needs of as many people as possible."
Average staff numbers rose from 96 to 102 although employee costs were flat at £1.66m.
Stagecoach owns 35 per cent of Citylink with Singapore based ComfortDelGro, one of the world’s largest transport companies with operations in several countries, holding the majority stake.
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