Member Article

Newcastle-registered Go-Ahead Group reports £7.4m pretax profit rise

Newcastle-registered transport operator The Go-Ahead Group has increased pretax profits by £7.4m to £52.1m in the first half of its current financial year.

The company, which owns UK-wide bus and rail franchises, including Go North East, saw overall group revenues increase from £1.56bn to £1.67bn.

The firm cited contract gains and consistency in its regional bus division as a recent key success, reporting a 7% increase in adjusted operating profit to £26.1m for this area.

Releasing its half year results this morning, for the six months ended December 26 2016, the Go-Ahead board deemed overall results to be in line with management expectations.

David Brown, Group Chief Executive, was pleased to report a solid set of results for the first half of the financial year.

Expanding on today’s figures, he said: “Our bus division performed well. Both regional revenue growth and passenger growth were stronger in the second quarter as we have continued to enhance our customer proposition. We are proud of our high levels of regional bus customer satisfaction, which remain the best in the sector at 90%.

“We remain the largest bus operator in London in an expanding market. Growth in London bus mileage increased in the first half due to high contract retention rates and contract gains. We have also benefited from contract variations and rail replacement work.

“Overall, the financial performance of our rail business was good. In the first six months of the financial year we made an overall contribution to the Department for Transport of £126.6m. We continue to support Network Rail in its efforts to maintain and improve the railway infrastructure we rely upon.

“During this period the Group also welcomed news of contracts wins in both bus and rail services. We were pleased to be awarded a direct award contract for London Midland from April 2016 to October 2017.

“Overseas, Go-Ahead was successful in bidding for a 25-route bus contract in Singapore and two German rail contracts. These opportunities establish Go-Ahead’s presence in these strategic markets and add value to our existing portfolio.”