13th Dec 2007 07:00
Go-Ahead Group PLC13 December 2007 For release at 7.00am Thursday 13 December 2007 The Go-Ahead Group plc ("Go-Ahead" or the "Group") Pre-close Trading Update Go-Ahead announces its pre-close trading update for the six months ending 31December 2007. Trading for the Group remains strong, in line with management's expectations foran encouraging improvement in first half operating profit* compared with thefirst half of last year (H1 2006/7: operating profit* £55.2m). Our regulated London bus operations continue to perform well. Additional mileagefrom new and enhanced contracts, consistently high levels of quality incentiverevenue and the contribution from last year's acquisitions have all helpedmaintain profitability in the face of higher costs, including fuel. Fuel hedgesare in place for approximately half of this year's regulated and deregulatedrequirements. We have recently completed the acquisition of First Group's regulated busoperations in Orpington, consisting of 35 vehicles and around £5m of annualrevenue. First year contribution is expected to be largely offset by acquisitionand integration costs. We look forward to working with the employees from theseoperations, which have been integrated into Metrobus's Orpington depot. Growth in our deregulated bus operations continues, with high single digitpercentage increases in revenue as a result of carrying more concessionary andnon-concessionary passengers. The performance of our Go West Midlands businessremains below our medium term requirements and we are reviewing options for thisoperation. Within the rail division, Southern and Southeastern continue to perform stronglyand we have made a good start with our London Midland operations, whichcommenced on 11 November 2007. Passenger revenue to date has increased at asimilar level to the 12.7% increase in the first quarter. Growth in passengernumbers continues albeit at a slightly slower rate than last year. Overall, thefirst half operating profit* from rail is expected to be above the first half oflast year, but to be more than offset by a second half reduction, due primarilyto lower subsidy receipts and increased franchise costs. We are making progress in turning around our aviation division, where first halfperformance is expected to show a reduced operating loss* compared to the £4.2mincurred in the second half of last year. We have implemented the BritishAirways contract and have won further ground handling contracts, includingQantas at Heathrow. Cargo volumes remain ahead of last year, with strongincreases and contract wins at Heathrow and Stansted offsetting decline atGatwick. We have made some changes to improve our management team, which shouldbring further benefit in the second half of the year. Our Meteor operationscontinue to perform well. We have recently arranged a five year syndicated bank facility for £340m torefinance all of our 364 day bilateral facilities. This facility, together withremaining term debt, will provide the core financing for our target net debtlevels (including restricted cash) of between 1.5 and 2.5 times EBITDA. Ourshare buyback programme continues, and we will implement the usual irrevocable,non-discretionary arrangement to maintain repurchases during the close periodwhich commences on 28 December 2007 and ends on the date of publication of ourinterim results on the 15 February 2008. Overall, the Board expects the Group to deliver a good performance for the firsthalf and for the year as a whole. * before exceptional items and amortisation -ends- For further information, please contact: The Go-Ahead Group plcKeith Ludeman, Group Chief Executive 020 8929 8650Nick Swift, Group Finance Director 0191 232 3123 Weber Shandwick Financial 020 7067 0700Richard Hews/ Rachel Martin/ Hannah Marwood Notes to Editors BUSThe group's bus division operates over 3,600 buses, providing over 540 millionpassenger journeys and covering around 240 million vehicle kilometers each year.Operations consist of deregulated services in the north east; West Midlands;Oxford; the south east and southern England; and regulated services forTransport for London in the capital. Metrobus operates London Bus services in South East London as well as commercialoperations in Surrey, Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex. The company wasestablished just over 20 years ago in Orpington, Kent and was acquired by theGo-Ahead Group in 1999. The company has expanded to over 400 vehicles and nowemploys over 1250 people. www.metrobus.co.uk RAILThe group's rail division, consisting of the Southern, Southeastern and LondonMidland franchises, operates a fleet of over 770 trains on which over 330million passenger journeys are undertaken. We operate a mix of suburban commuterand mainline routes around London and the South East, from London to Birminghamand Liverpool, and in the West Midlands. The Southeastern franchise will includethe operation of new high speed trains on the domestic Channel Tunnel Rail Linkinto St Pancras from 2009 while the Southern franchise will include theoperation of the Gatwick Express rail services from May 2008. We started the newWest Midlands rail franchise on November 11 2007 operating as London Midland. AVIATION SERVICESThe group's aviation services division undertakes a wide range of supportservices for national and international airlines. Services provided includecargo handling, passenger check-in, baggage handling, information desks,executive lounges, ground handling and customs clearance. In the last year, weprovided services to 45 million passengers as well as over half a millionaircraft movements. The division includes Meteor Parking which is one of thelargest parking companies in the UK, managing around 65,000 parking spacespredominantly at BAA airports, with a range of customers, including BAA, localauthorities, retail outlets, NHS trusts, hotels and rail stations. Well knownbrands include 'Pink Elephant', 'Park 1' and 'eparking'. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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