LONDON (Alliance News) - Go-Ahead Group PLC Thursday said that trading in the first quarter has been strong, and it is confident in achieving full-year results in line with current expectations.
The public transport operator said that both its bus and rail businesses delivered a robust performance, in line with expectations, in the first quarter ended October 23.
It said that its bus business is making good progress with cost-cutting, and is on track to deliver a GBP100 million operating profit target by 2015-16, excluding amortisation and exceptional items.
Go-Ahead said that total revenues from its bus division rose 2% year-on-year in the first quarter, including the London Olympics last year, and were up 3.5% on an underlying basis, excluding the benefit of delivering transport for the Olympic sailing events at Weymouth last year.
The group said that growth rates in the first quarter of last year were impacted by the London Olympic and Paralympic games.
It said that total bus passenger journeys in the first quarter were up 1% year-on-year, while concessionary passenger volumes continue to grow at a slower rate than journeys made by fare paying customers.
From its rail division, which operates Southern, Southeastern and London Midland franchises through its 65% owned subsidiary, Govia, Go-Ahead said that underlying revenue was in line with expectations. It said that similar to the final quarter of last year, in the first quarter of its new financial year it reported a significant increase in passenger journeys across all companies, due to a change in UK Department for Transport methodology in Travelcard passenger allocations.
Go-Ahead said that passenger revenue increased by 6% at both its Southern and London Midland franchises, with passenger journeys up 5% and 2% respectively.
"In rail, our bid team is working hard to deliver strong bids for the Thameslink and Crossrail franchise competitions and we have begun discussions with the Department for Transport regarding the proposed extension for Southeastern," said Chief Executive David Brown in a statement.
Go-Ahead shares were trading up 4.30 pence Thursday morning at 1,699.30 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
Copyright 2013 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
