Turnover at Go-Ahead Group was up £148m to £2,571.8m for the 12 months to 29 June. However, operating profit was down £7.7m to £102.5m. Profit before tax was also down £8m to £86.2m.
David Brown, Group CEO, said: “We are reporting a set of good results, slightly ahead of the Board’s expectations, and are progressing well towards our bus operating profit target.
“At the core of the Group is our bus division, which has performed exceptionally well in the year, delivering record operating profit of £78.2m, up 11.4%. Increasing our profits ensures we can continue to invest in the business and improve service quality for our passengers. Once again, we have invested in our bus fleet, spending £45.3m on 251 new buses in the year.
“Strong take up of our smartcard, ‘the key’, has continued with over 400,000 cards issued and our advancements in mobile-ticketing also helped to grow our bus business , generating over £1m of revenue in less than 12 months.
“The new financial year has started well, with trading in line with the Board’s expectations. In the bus division, we are on course to deliver our (operating profit) £100m target by 2015/16. This year will build on the excellent progress we have made towards this target, driving revenue through our continually innovative products and marketing, and reducing costs by sharing best practice and cost efficiency initiatives across the division. We have great confidence in our ability to deliver this target.”
