DSB's new half year report bears witness to significant customer growth, but also a serious financial situation
As brand new CEO for DSB, Christian Roslev today presents his first financial report for the first half year of 2011. And there are lots of challenges and a closely defined job: To bring DSB safely out of the crisis, to turn a deficit into a profit, to continue the sound customer growth, to ensure more train on time and to achieve satisfied owners, customers and employees.
»The report demonstrates clearly black on white that the major challenges, which I and my colleagues at DSB face, are very concrete and present. For a period, we have had higher costs than income, and we loose money every day. It is serious and the situation must be solved. But the accounts also shows that Danes turn toward to trains in record numbers and embrace DSB and the train.«
A good basis
One of the biggest challenges for the new CEO and DSB becomes evident when seeing the economic bottom line: The DSB Group's loss before tax for the first six months of the year totalled DKK 67 million which implies that DSB continuously increases its debt.
»We shall now be tackling head on the challenges, which we are facing at DSB. And we shall maintain a clear focus on our costs. We are convinced that it is of paramount importance that DSB is capable of delivering sound financial results in the future, which necessitates additional efficiency enhancements in the company,« says Christian Roslev.
Conversely, Danes boarded a DSB train 87 million times in the same period. This is the highest number of customers ever in a fist half year in the company's history - six per cent or almost five million more journeys than in the first half year of 2010.
And at the same time, the customers are really getting trains on time. Thus, 90.5 per cent of all DSB's Long distance & Regional trains was on time and 95.2 per cent of the S-trains left the platforms on time in the first six months of the year, which is an improvement compared with the first half year of 2010.
»Together with a fairly good punctuality, our impressive and historic increase in passenger numbers provide us with a good basis for our ability to continue to meet our important role in society. The progress shows that the Danes want public service transport and trains. It makes me confident. If we had to fight against too high costs and, at the same time, falling number of passengers, then we would really have reason to be worried,« says Christian Roslev.
Leading player
Christian Roslev underlines that the clear objective for DSB's new management and the rest of the company is as quickly as possible to re-establish a profitable business, while at the same time playing a significant role in relation to the transport sector and the development of society in general:
»We have to work hard to regain pride in DSB with our owner as well as our employees and customers. DSB must targeted strengthen our position as the Danes' preferred public service means of transport, because we wish to be the leading and principal player in the politicians' ambition to double train services towards 2030,« says Christian Roslev.
DSB's half year report 2011 including a special preface by the Chairman of the Board Peter Schütze and CEO Christian Roslev can be read here: