Group posts strong full year financial statement, with significant growth in revenue, share dividends and operating profit
Go-Ahead Group has released its full year results, for the year ended June 28, 2014, with figures increasing across the board.
Revenue increased from £2,571.8m in 2013 to £2,702.4m. Operating profit was up 19% at £103.2m, with operating profit margin improving by 0.4% to 3.8%.Profit before tax and exceptional terms increased by a substantial 25.4% to £79.1m, while adjusted earnings per share improved by 26.4% to 148.6p. The group’s proposed full year dividend stood at 84.5p, a 4.5% increase on 2013’s 81p.
David Brown, Group Chief Executive, commented: “Delivering for our customers is a prerequisite to the increasing financial strength of our business. The Group performed very well in the financial year with our bus and rail divisions both delivering strong results, which were significantly ahead of our initial expectations for the year.
“This was a particularly busy and exciting year for Go-Ahead in which we made excellent progress towards our strategic objectives. We remained focused on delivering high quality value for money services for our passengers and strengthened the finances of the business. We continued to make a positive contribution to society through the services we run, careful environmental stewardship and the taxes we pay.
“Both our bus and rail divisions performed well. Record numbers of passengers travelled on our services. Our deregulated bus division achieved a sector leading customer satisfaction score of 92%.
“Another key achievement in the year was winning the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise on the basis of both quality for the passenger and value for money to the taxpayer. We are also pleased to be on the shortlists for the Department for Transport’s Northern and TransPennine rail franchise competitions and we look forward to submitting strong bids, working collaboratively with industry partners.
“The end of the year marked the halfway point towards our bus operating profit target. We made steady progress towards our target in the year, and remain confident in our ability to achieve £100m of bus operating profit by 2015/16. The group is in a very good financial position, with strong cash management allowing us to increase investment while reducing our net debt during the year.
“Our robust balance sheet supports our progressive dividend policy and allows us flexibility to pursue value adding opportunities. The board’s confidence in the group’s performance and prospects has allowed us to propose a full year dividend of 84.5p in line with our policy.
“I am proud of our position as a responsible business. Reflecting our commitment to being an environmentally responsible operator, we became the only transport group to be awarded the Carbon Trust triple standard for achievements in carbon, water and waste reduction during the year.”
