Article: Connex profit figures running late

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Connex profit figures running late

Connex profit figures running late

    * Jason Dowling
    * May 2, 2009

COMMUTERS are being kept in the dark about how much profit Connex has made running Melbourne's struggling rail network.

The private operator should have lodged its 2008 financial report with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission by Thursday.

"Even the financial report is running late," Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said.

Connex spokesman John Rees told The Age the company was finalising the report and it would be lodged "at a date when the information is less commercially sensitive".

ASIC can apply for a court order to require Connex to lodge its statement. The regulator said it would not comment on operational matters.

Connex is involved in a competitive tendering process for a new operator contract. It announced a $11.1 million profit for 2007 and a $9.1 million profit for 2006.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder blamed pressure from the State Government for Connex's late reporting. "It is embarrassing for the Government to find themselves in a position of a dilapidated rail network and an operator posting a profit."

"Even the financial report is running late," Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said.

Top quote Daniel!