LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British transport group Go-Ahead posted a 19 percent jump in annual profits as it carriedmore passengers on buses and trains and said it would raise itsdividend amid confidence that it would meet its financialtargets.
Go-Ahead on Thursday reported operating profit of 103.2million pounds ($170 million) for the twelve months to the endof June, compared with the 86.7 million pounds it made in theyear-earlier period.
It said it was making progress towards its target ofgenerating 100 million pounds of operating profit from its busbusiness alone by its 2015/16 financial year and raised itsfull-year dividend by 4.3 percent to 84.5 pence a share.
Earlier this year, Go-Ahead secured a contract to run anexpanded Thameslink rail network in London, the largest railfranchise in Britain. The company's shares have risen 30 percentsince the beginning of 2014.
(1 US dollar = 0.6079 British pound) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Mark Potter)
