Profits soar for Carlyle Group’s Addison Lee
DESPITE increasing competition from smartphone apps like Uber and Hailo, minicab company Addison Lee continued to grow last year as its revenue and profits surged.
The group, which was snapped up by private equity firm Carlyle Group in April 2013, said revenue rose 11 per cent to £196.6m during the year to the end of August, meanwhile profit rose over 55 per cent to £33.5m.
In a companies house filing its directors outlined ongoing plans to “focus on growth in its current markets through acquiring new customers, exploring opportunities to encourage existing customers to spend more and minimising customers who churn.”
The Carlyle Group, which tried to sell Addison Lee last year unsuccessfully, took a £17.2m dividend from the company, up from a far smaller £2m during the previous year.
Addison Lee’s chief executive Liam Griffin has slammed Transport for London (TfL) for allowing Uber such an easy entrance into the London transport market. He has argued TfL was failing to enforce rules and regulations on Uber that Addison Lee and black cabs have to comply with.
Last year the London Taxi Drivers Association was joined by taxi unions across Europe, who resent the competition and gung-ho attitude of the San Francisco start-up. The protest was mainly targeted at TfL’s decision to grant Uber a private hire licence.