The owner of the beleaguered Southern rail franchise has posted full-year profits of nearly £100m, less than 24 hours after the Government announced a £20m cash injection to save the troubled network.

Despite months of fierce public criticism from passengers and politicians for providing an inadequate service – including London mayor Sadiq Khan, who branded it an “embarrassment to our city” – this morning the Go-Ahead Group announced its pre-tax profits had soared 27 per cent to £99.9m in the year to July 2.

The company, which owns 65 per cent of Southern operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), also saw revenues rise 4.5 per cent to £3.4 billion.

Announcing Go-Ahead's financial results, chief executive David Brown apologised to passengers who had been affected by poor service on GTR franchises, which have been plagued by delays, cancellations and industrial action.

RELATED: Sadiq Khan blasts Government plans to prop up ailing Southern network

He said the company would "continue to work closely with the Department for Transport, Network Rail and other suppliers and partners to operate the best service possible while delivering the long-term improvements."

Yesterday Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced the Government would be pumping £20m of public money into the network to help Southern "get to grips" with the disruption.

Mr Khan, who wrote to Mr Grayling in July offering a Transport for London (TfL) takeover of the Southern franchise, today described the Government's response as "wholly inadequate".

He added: “Long-suffering commuters across south London will be shocked to hear that Go-Ahead has announced soaring profits, less than 24 hours after Chris Grayling announced a £20 million taxpayers handout to prop up the franchise.

“The reaction to the cancellations, delays and poor service from both Southern and the Government has been wholly inadequate.

“Commuters will not understand why the Government rejected my offer to send a specialist TfL team in to Southern to sort this mess out for free and instead has rewarded a failing franchise with more money and more time. "

One commuter, who described himself as a regular commuter on Southern services from Wimbledon, said: "With that level of profit, I bet the chairs at the owners homes have a good deal more stuffing in them than on their filthy, smelly trains.

RELATED: Southern set to reintroduce a third of axed trains

"That the taxpayer is on the hook for millions of pounds to prop up this company is just salt in the wound."

On Tuesday Southern announced it would reinstate more than a third of some 341 cancelled services next week following the introduction of an emergency timetable in July.

The company has blamed "unprecedented sickness levels" among its staff and disruption caused by a long-running dispute with the RMT union over changes to the role of guards and staff shortages.

A 48-hour walkout by RMT members working for Southern is planned for next week.

Describing Go-Ahead's timing of the profit announcement as "deeply cynical", RMT general secretary Mick Cash said the "money-raking" company had "turned Britain's railways into a global laughing stock".

He added: ""While Go-Ahead have been driving Britain's biggest rail franchise into total meltdown, the cash has been sloshing through the boardroom at obscene levels. This is reward for total failure on a scale which is off the map.

"Just a fraction of these profits would be enough to keep the guards on Southern trains, keep the passengers safe and resolve the industrial dispute between RMT and the company. It is shameful that they have opted to hoard cash instead of protecting the travelling public."

Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South, said: "Go-Ahead should not be descending these profits to shareholders - they should be investing that money in the service. It's completely unacceptable they're paying massive dividends to shareholders while Croydon residents suffer."

But Mr Philp also said that the RMT union were "clearly contributing to the problem" by taking industrial action, and described the high levels of staff sickness as an "unofficial strike".

Go-Ahead boss David Brown said: "A large part of the role of the GTR franchise is to introduce three new train fleets and modernise working practices. During this period of change, Southern services have been disrupted by restricted network capacity, strike action and increased levels of absence.

"We apologise to the people whose lives have been affected during this time."

Posting its financial results this morning, the company added that Mr Brown has "made it clear he does not wish to be considered for an annual bonus this year and declined a salary increase" in light of the Southern chaos.

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