ComfortDelGro Corporation’s fullyear revenue increased by 3.9% last year to a record $3.55bn on broad-based growth.
The Scottish Citylink operation experienced 9.3% growth and Metroline, the London bus operations, saw a 1% revenue rise.
The taxi and bus arms of the company accounted for over 87% of the growth during the year.
In line with the growth in revenue, operating profit for the year ended December 31, 2012 increased by 3.3% to $412.3m. Full-year net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 5.6% to $248.9m.
ComfortDelGro Managing Director/Group CEO, Mr Kua Hong Pak, said: “Despite the significant challenges the Group faced in 2012, including weakened demand in some markets, we managed to seek out opportunities to expand and remain thankful we were able to deliver another year of growth.”
The bus business in the UK, with a full-year revenue of $563.8m, remained the single largest contributor to overseas bus revenue despite the weaker Sterling Pound.
At Group level, full-year revenue from the bus business increased by 2.1% to $1.72bn. If not for the negative foreign currency translation effect, revenue from the Group’s bus business would have grown by 2.9% or $48.5m.
In Singapore, bus revenue at SBS Transit increased by 6.1% to $600.9m as average daily ridership grew by 3.1% – more than compensating for a 0.5% drop in average fares. If bus advertising and rental income were included, total revenue would be 5.9% higher at $638.9m. For its core bus business, however, SBS Transit fell deeper into the red, incurring an operating loss of $14.7m compared to $6.0m previously.
The Group’s unscheduled bus business in Singapore recorded an 8.4% decrease in revenue to $22.9m in 2012 due mainly to fewer contract and ad hoc jobs.
In China, revenue from the bus business fell by 48.7% to $27.6m following the divestment of loss-making Shenyang ComfortDelGro Bus.
Overseas bus revenue accounted for 61.6% of total Group bus revenue in 2012. Significantly, operating profit from the Group’s overseas bus operations for the year crossed the 90%-mark for the first time, accounting for 90.9% of total Group bus operating profit, up from 85.8% in 2011.
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