The Go-Ahead Group plc have issued their Interim Management Statement for the period from 30 December 2012 to 24 April 2013.
Resilient performance; full year expectations remain unchanged
David Brown, Group Chief Executive of Go-Ahead, said:
“I am pleased to report a resilient performance across our operations, with all of our companies seeing growth in commercial revenue in the year to date.
“Our bus division continues to perform well in a challenging economic environment and we remain on track to achieve our target to organically grow bus operating profit to £100m by 2015/16. Our growth trends are sector leading driven by our high quality, locally-focused operations and our London bus business remains best in class.
“We are delighted to have been shortlisted to bid for the Docklands Light Railway, partnering with Colas Rail Ltd. They are an ideal infrastructure partner for us and, combined with our experience of operating in London on busy commuter networks, I believe we are well placed to deliver a successful bid.
“At the end of March the DfT announced its long-term plans for rail franchising. I am pleased that the Government intends to restart the Thameslink franchise bid process in September this year and I welcome the opportunity to agree extended contract terms for London Midland to June 2017 and Southeastern to June 2018.
“Overall, I am pleased with the Group’s performance and remain confident that we will deliver a full year result in line with our expectations.”
.JPG)
Deregulated:
Our operations outside London have performed well in the year to date, delivering sector-leading revenue growth. Solid underlying growth in fare paying passengers of over 2% more than offset a decline in concessionary passenger volumes, largely due to adverse weather in our third quarter. The revenue impact of lower concessionary journeys was mitigated as the majority of concessionary revenue is fixed.
| Year to date growth rates: | ||
| Revenue | Passenger journeys | |
| Total | c.9% | c.4% |
| Excluding acquisitions | c.4.5% | c.1% |
Our London operations continue to perform strongly despite the expected slower growth in the third quarter as we lap the introduction of new contracts during the prior year.
| Year to date growth rates*: | ||||
Revenue
|
Mileage
|
|||
| Total (including Olympics) |
Underlying (excluding Olympics) |
Total (including Olympics) |
Underlying (excluding Olympics) |
|
| Total | c.15% | c.13% | c.10.5% | c.9.5% |
| Excluding acquisitions |
c.8% | c.6% | c.4% | c.3% |
.PNG)
Rail:Our three franchises performed satisfactorily despite being impacted by the adverse weather in our third quarter.
As expected, revenue yield in the quarter has been more modest than in the first half of the year, as January 2013 fare increases were lower than last year.
Last week, the Group was pleased to announce it had been shortlisted to bid for Docklands Light Railway with infrastructure partner, Colas Rail Ltd. It is anticipated that the successful bidder will be announced in Spring 2014, with the contract commencing in September 2014.
| Year to date growth rates*: | ||||
Passenger revenue**
|
Passenger journeys**
|
|||
| Total (including Olympics) |
Underlying (excluding Olympics) |
Total (including Olympics) |
Underlying (excluding Olympics) |
|
| Southern | c.4% | c.3% | c.0% | c.-1% |
| Southeastern | c.9% | c.7% | c.4% | c.2% |
| London Midland | c.12% | c.11% | c.1% | c.1% |
| **Passenger revenue and journeys associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games are based on estimates. | ||||
Outlook:
Overall, trading in the year to date has been resilient and we remain confident that we will deliver a full year result in line with our expectations.The Group remains in a good financial position with strong cash generation and a robust balance sheet, underpinning the dividend policy and allowing flexibility to pursue value-adding opportunities. We continue to focus on our key strengths of providing high quality, locally-focused and innovative transport services.
