LONDON (Alliance News) - Go-Ahead Group PLC Tuesday said trading in the first quarter was robust and said it has maintained its full-year expectations for its bus and rail operations.
The FTSE 250-listed transport group said it saw good growth in revenue for its regional bus business in the first quarter, driven by increased contract revenue in the period. Revenue for the first quarter to September 27 for the regional bus business grew around 5%, the company said.
Revenue growth in its London bus business, also around 5%, was driven by the reallocated of its bus service operators grant. It said mileage operated dropped in line with its expectations, following strong comparables for the same period a year earlier due to contract wins.
The group said the performance of its Southern and Southeastern train operations was in line with expectations, though it said its London Midland business was impacted severely by engineering works during the quarter.
The Southern arm posted a 6.5% rise in passenger revenue in the period, on the back of a 2% rise in passenger journeys. Southeastern saw passenger revenue rise 10%, with passenger journeys increasing 6.5%.
Southern trading was in line with expectations, Go-Ahead said, with the franchise to continue on existing terms this year before being incorporated into the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise in July 2015.
Southeastern trading was also in line with forecasts, with underlying revenue growth for the franchise of 8.5%. It added the total passenger revenue growth in the business was boosted by the impact of one-off travelcard allocations.
London Midland passenger revenue growth was more muted, up 2.5% on the back of a 1% increase in passenger journeys. It said revenue for the business was below expectations, due to the engineering work impact, though it said this did not impact on profit.
Go-Ahead said trading across the group in the first half was in line with expectations and affirmed its full-year expectations for its bus and rail business. It said it also remains on course to achieve its operating profit target of GBP100 million for its bus and rail operations by 2015-16.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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