Wightlink comes under scrutiny as £77m profits since 2017 revealed and £8m paid in dividends in 2022, despite public subsidy; an investigation by the Department for Transport is urged
The Letter argues that legislating for Minimum Service Levels is unnecessary, and instead, reinvesting some of the £50 million in dividends paid out to shareholders over four years into the .
Although there is an argument that might look at some of Mr Seely’s points from a different perspective, overall, it’s clear he acknowledges and recognises the issues Islanders face with the ferry companies. However, the first thing in Mr Seely s response that caught my eye was why Wightlink needed millions of pounds of public money to avoid bankruptcy? I have looked at Wightlink’s accounts covering the past four years and they show over £59million net profit. In the same period over £50 million (85 per cent of Wighlinks profit over the same period) was paid in dividends to Wighlinks parent company, Arca Shipping Limited.