26th Jun 2019 08:53
(Alliance News) - Stagecoach Group PLC on Wednesday said its revenue fell by one third in its recent financial year after two of its rail franchises ended, and it announced a number of board changes.
Stagecoach's revenue for its year ended April 27 totalled GBP1.88 billion, down 33% from GBP2.82 billion the year before. This was due to its South West Trains franchise ending in August 2017, followed by the end of its Virgin Trains East Coast franchise in June 2018.
However, operating profit rose to GBP112.4 million from GBP83.6 million as Stagecoach's loss on operating costs and other operating income shrank to GBP1.77 billion from GBP2.73 billion. This caused the company's pretax profit to rise to GBP101.2 million from GBP77.6 million.
Total profit for the year fell almost two thirds to GBP23.6 million from GBP63.8 million after a GBP78.1 million loss after tax on discontinued operations. This was due to a loss and taxation on the disposal of its North American business.
Stagecoach proposed a final dividend of 3.9 pence per share, taking the total for the year to 7.7p per share - maintained from its prior financial year.
The company's adjusted basic earnings per share from continued operations was 17.4p, up from 9.6p. From total operations, including the North American disposal, statutory earnings per share came in at 3.8p, down from 12.3p in financial 2018.
Stagecoach Chief Executive Mark Griffiths said: "I am pleased to report good financial results as we reposition the business. We continue to focus on driving growth at our core high quality bus and coach operations in the UK, but we have no intention to bid for new UK rail franchises on the current risk profile offered by the Department for Transport. We have maintained our expectation of earnings per share" for financial 2020.
In addition, the company announced board changes. These include the appointment of Non-Executive Director Ray O'Toole as new deputy chair following the upcoming departure of Will Whitehorn at the end of June.
Furthermore, Non-Executive Director Karen Thomson has decided to stay on Stagecoach's board - she had previously planned to step down at the end of its annual general meeting - due to "recent changes in her other business commitments". She will seek re-election at the AGM.
Another non-executive director, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, will be stepping down on July 31 and will not seek re-election as she has taken on a new full-time role as chief financial officer of Snoop, a financial services start up.
Stagecoach shares were down 2.0% at 115.30 pence in London early Wednesday.
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