3rd Apr 2019 07:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stagecoach Group PLC on Wednesday said its full-year adjusted earnings per share expectations have increased following further "strong trading and positive progress" in its UK Rail division.
The transport operator, however, did not specify a figure for what it expects to generate in terms of earnings for the year ending April 27.
At the time of its interim results in December, Stagecoach posted adjusted EPS of 12.9 pence. At that time, the company increased its adjusted EPS expectations to reflect the above-forecast rail earnings achieved in the first half of the year.
For the 44 weeks to March 2, UK Rail revenue - excluding Virgin Trains East Coast - was up 1.4% on a like-for-like basis. The Virgin Rail Group posted a 6.7% rise in revenue over the same period.
"The financial performance of our rail businesses is ahead of our expectations, with continued good underlying revenue trends," Stagecoach said.
It added: "We have continued to make progress in achieving favourable outcomes from concluding industry charges and contractual matters associated with the expired South West Trains franchise, resulting in additional profit being recognised in the current financial year."
UK Bus operations, on a regional basis, saw like-for-like revenue up 3.4% in the 44-week period, driven by market share increase, while the London Bus unit grew 1.3%.
In North America, like-for-like revenue for the 10 months to February 28 was down 1.4%. This included a 1.9% decline in megabus.com North America's revenue.
In December, Stagecoach sold its North America business to private equity firm Variant Equity Advisors LLC for an enterprise valuation of USD271.4 million. It expects the disposal to complete before the end of April.
Stagecoach will release its annual results on June 26.
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