29th Oct 2009 07:00
The Go-Ahead Group PLC
AGM AND INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
At the Annual General Meeting to be held later today, Sir Patrick Brown, Chairman of Go-Ahead, will make the following Interim Management Statement for the period from 28 June 2009 to 28 October 2009:
Overall:Overall, we were pleased with the Group's robust first quarter trading which was in line with our expectations.
Our first quarter this year consisted of fourteen weeks ended 2 October 2009, compared with thirteen weeks last year. Year on year movements described below have been adjusted to a like-for-like basis.
Bus:Revenue growth was slightly ahead of our expectations in both our regulated and deregulated bus operations. Regulated mileage for the quarter was slightly below the equivalent period last year due to the phasing of contract gains and losses. Deregulated passenger numbers were slightly up in the quarter, primarily due to the concessionary fares schemes.
We continue to make good progress with cost control, including labour efficiency and energy savings, and are on track to recover the additional £4m of fuel costs this year. We use around 110m litres of fuel a year, which represents around 10% of our cost base. Our fuel requirements are fully hedged for the current financial year at an average of 47p per litre and for next financial year at an average of 41p per litre.
Our strategy is to supplement organic growth in our bus operations with value-adding acquisitions. The previously announced East Thames and Horsham bus acquisitions were completed successfully at the beginning of October for a total cash consideration of £10m. They will contribute to the Group's performance from the second quarter of the financial year.
Rail:Our rail division operates the Southern (including Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland franchises through our 65% owned subsidiary Govia.
In Southern, results for the old franchise to 20 September were in line with our expectations. We launched the new Southern franchise without any significant operational or financial disruption and are well placed to start delivering our initiatives and commitments.
In Southeastern, revenue trends to date have been broadly in line with our expectations and we have made good progress with cost saving initiatives and preparation for the full High Speed service and new timetable starting on 13 December 2009. We have been particularly pleased with the customer response to our High Speed preview services which were expanded recently to serve Dover, Folkestone, Ramsgate and Canterbury.
In our smallest franchise, London Midland, our new management team is introducing a number of changes to improve the performance of the business. At this stage, we are assuming that the additional costs of these changes will largely offset the underlying profitability of this franchise for the current financial year.
Aviation services:Results for the first quarter in our aviation services division were slightly ahead of our expectations, due to ongoing cost saving measures and better than expected revenue in ground handling and cargo. Our Meteor parking operations performed as expected in the quarter.
Outlook:At this early stage in the financial year, we continue to assume that economic conditions will remain difficult and have not changed our expectations for the full year. We have a strong balance sheet and will continue to emphasise service quality, cost savings and financial discipline to provide solid returns for shareholders.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
|
The Go-Ahead Group Keith Ludeman, Group Chief Executive Nick Swift, Group Finance Director Jim Boyd, Group Corporate Affairs Director Catherine Garland, Group Communications Manager |
020 7821 3920 020 7821 3922 020 7821 3923 020 7821 3923 |
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Citigate Dewe Rogerson Michael BerkeleyChris BarrieAngharad Couch |
020 7638 9571 |
Notes to editors
Go-AheadGo-Ahead is one of the UK's leading providers of passenger transport services operating in the bus, rail and aviation services sectors. Employing around 27,000 people across the country, around 960 million passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. In addition to the travelling public, customers include the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL), local authorities, British Airports Authority (BAA) and major airlines.
BusGo-Ahead is one of the UK's largest bus operators. With a fleet of over 3,500 buses, we carry, on average, around 1.6 million passengers every day. Our operations are focused on high density commuter markets. We have a strong presence in London, with around 21% market share, where we provide regulated services for TfL. We operate deregulated services in the north east, Oxford, the south east and southern England.
RailThe rail operation, Govia, is 65% owned by Go-Ahead and 35% by Keolis. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises: Southern (which includes the Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland. In December 2009, Southeastern will launch the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing current journey times. Southeastern is currently running preview services. For further information about our rail franchises please visit our factsheets:www.go-ahead.com/goahead/ir/factsheets_rail/
Aviation ServicesThe Group's aviation services division is one of the UK's largest independent providers of cargo services (primarily Plane Handling), ground handling (primarily aviance UK) and car parking (Meteor). The division operates from 14 airports and services major airline operators such as British Airways (BA), Virgin and bmi.
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