Technology

Lime bike UK revenues surge 75% to break £100million mark for first time

By Jonathan Prynn

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Lime bike UK revenues surge 75% to break £100million mark for first time

Revenues from the hire of Lime bikes in the UK surged more than 75% last year to £111 million last year, latest financial results reveal.

Accounts filed at Companies House for Lime Technology Ltd, the UK operator of the ubiquitous Uber backed e-bike and scooters mobility service, show turnover grew from £63.5 million to £111.3 million in 2024.

Pre-tax profits fell from £2.15 million to £1.71 million but this was after the UK company paid a huge £51.3 million “reseller fee” to its US parent. There was no dividend.

As well as London, Lime bikes are available in Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, Oxford and Milton Keynes, although the capital is thought to account for the bulk of the turnover.

Turnover is likely to have surged again in the current year following huge take-up during the Tube strikes in September.

Lime was founded in 2017 by Brad Bao and Toby Sun with Uber as a significant shareholder.

In February the US-headquartered group revealed that its gross bookings increased 31 per cent to $810m (£602.7million) last year.

Net revenue also rose by 32 per cent to $686 million while EBITDA earnings jumped by almost 50% to over $140 million.

Speaking at the time, group CEO Wayne Ting said: “2024 was an exceptional year for Lime and our global leadership is evident both operationally and financially with strong results across all of our key metrics.

“We grew profits faster than revenue in 2024, posting another record year of results through serving more than 24m riders in hundreds of communities around the world and bringing Lime to more cities globally.

But alongside this rapid growth, the company has faced growing scrutiny over its safety record.

But Lime’s boss Wayne Ting has insisted: “Safety is incredibly important to us. It guides how we design and maintain our vehicles.

“We do a quality check of every bike before it goes out, and if there are complaints, those bikes are taken offline immediately”.