Partner Article

Go-Ahead sees long road to recovery

TRAIN and bus operator Go-Ahead said it remains confident of meeting full year expectations this year despite the travel industry continuing to struggle along a rocky road.

However, the Newcastle company also said it remains cautious on the short-term outlook for the UK economy.

“Overall, we are pleased with the group’s performance”, the firm said in a trading update.

The group expects current year operating profit at its rail division to be in line with expectations at around £34m compared to £61.5m in 2009.

The firm’s bus business revenues grew, helped by acquisitions in Plymouth and Sussex. Operating profit for the current year at its bus operations are expected to be around £63m compared to £66.6m in 2009, of which around £2m is due to acquisitions.

Go-Ahead’s airport ground services operations are expected to breakeven for the year.

“We firmly believe in the fundamental strengths of our bus and rail operations and look forward to working closely with the new Government. However, we remain cautious on the near term prospects for the UK economy,” the company said.

The group, which operates the Southern, Southeastern and London Midland rail franchises through its majority owned subsidiary Govia, said its rail operations performed as expected with slightly better revenue in Southern offset by higher costs in London Midland.

Southeastern’s high-speed services, started in December, have seen good demand from commuters.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .