Trading Statement

The Go-Ahead Group plc ("Go-Ahead" or "the Group")

PRE-CLOSE TRADING UPDATE

Trading in line with expectations

The Go-Ahead Group plc today announces its pre-close trading update for the year ending 3 July 2010 ahead of its full year results which will be released on 2 September 2010.

Overall, we are pleased with performance and remain confident that we will meet our full year expectations for the current financial year.

Bus:

Our bus operations continue to perform well and we expect current year operating profit* to be around £63m (2009: £66.6m), of which approximately £2m is due to acquisitions.

Regulated London bus operations

Revenue in our regulated London bus operations continues to grow and we expect a full year increase in both mileage and revenue of around six per cent. Excluding acquisitions, like-for-like growth for both measures is expected to be just under two per cent.

As previously reported, we started a number of new contracts in January 2010 with more challenging quality incentive targets and lower revenue per mile. We continue to expect these new contracts, together with the end of QIC2 (an additional quality incentive scheme which finished during the financial year), to reduce current full year operating profit* margin by around one and a half percentage points compared with last year.

Deregulated bus operations

Our deregulated bus operations remain strong, with full year passenger numbers and passenger revenue both expected to increase by over seven per cent. Excluding acquisitions, we expect the like-for-like growth in passenger numbers to be around three per cent and revenue growth to be nearly four per cent. The majority of the increase in each is due to fare paying passengers.

Our fuel requirements of approximately 110m litres per annum are fully hedged for the current financial year at an average of 47p per litre; fully hedged for next year at an average of 41p per litre and 66% hedged for the following year at an average of 40p per litre.

Our 50:50 Yellow School Bus joint venture in North America is making good progress towards the start of its first contract in September 2010. We have slightly increased this contract from around 100 to 120 buses and will maintain our cautious approach to expansion in this market.

Rail:

Overall, our rail operations performed as expected with slightly better revenue in Southern offset by higher costs in London Midland. We expect current year operating profit* to be in line with expectations at around £34m (2009: £61.5m).

Southern

We are pleased with the performance of our Southern franchise this financial year, which has performed slightly ahead of our bid assumptions. Full year passenger revenue growth is expected to be nearly nine per cent, with just over half due to an increase in passenger numbers. We have made good progress with our revenue generating initiatives which include broad based marketing and a ten-fold increase in online sales through our Southern website.

Southeastern

In Southeastern, full year passenger revenue growth is expected to be around seven per cent, supported by a slight increase in passenger numbers. As previously reported, this franchise became eligible for 80% revenue support from 1 April 2010, following the introduction of the High Speed services in December 2009. Recent National Passenger Survey results showed that the high speed services are very popular with customers but economic conditions mean that revenue is below the bid assumption prepared in 2005. We continue to make significant progress with ongoing cost control in this franchise.

London Midland

Full year passenger revenue growth in London Midland remains buoyant at around nine per cent, of which around half is due to higher passenger numbers. We have made some good progress with cost control in this franchise, although a number of legacy issues remain which have added to the cost base this year.

Other:

Our residual aviation services operations are expected to breakeven* for the year.

Expectations for our net financing costs are unchanged at around £13m this year and £16m next year, reflecting the full year impact of our recent bond issue. The tax rate assumption remains at 28% for both this year and next. Exceptional items before tax are expected to be around £46m for the full year (approximately £10m cash, £36m non-cash), comprising £38m for the first half (mainly for aviation services) and rail restructuring costs in the second half.

Cash generation from operations has been slightly ahead of our expectations so far this year due to effective management of working capital. Full year capital expenditure remains in line at around £70m for the full year, and the depreciation charge will be just over £50m.

Outlook:

We firmly believe in the fundamental strengths of our bus and rail operations and look forward to working closely with the new Government. However, we remain cautious on the near term prospects for the UK economy.

At this stage, the outlook for the next financial year is difficult to predict. We are assuming that the broad operating trends experienced in the second half of this financial year continue throughout the next financial year. In bus, we therefore expect lower fuel costs and a small additional contribution from acquisitions to be partly offset by the full year effect of lower operating profit* margins in London. In rail, we expect a small reduction in operating profit* margin next year compared to this financial year.

Our cashflow, balance sheet and financing are strong and the maintenance of the current level of dividend per share will remain a priority. We will continue with our focus on service quality, cost control and financial discipline.

* before amortisation and exceptional items

- End -

For further information, please contact:

The Go-Ahead Group Keith Ludeman, Group Chief Executive 020 7821 3920 Nick Swift, Group Finance Director 020 7821 3922 Catherine Garland, Group Communications & 020 7821 3929 Investor Relations Manager

Citigate Dewe Rogerson 020 7638 9571 Michael Berkeley Chris Barrie Angharad Couch

Notes to Editors

Go-Ahead Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 25,000 people across the country, almost one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and local authorities.

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. We recently expanded our bus operations with the acquisition of Plymouth CityBus in the UK, and have established a Yellow School Bus joint venture in North America.

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 began operating the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing journey times.For further information about our rail franchises please visit our factsheets: http://www.go-ahead.com/goahead/aboutus/our_markets/uk_rail_market/

Aviation ServicesThe Group also provides car parking services through Meteor, which includes the 'Meet & Greet' and 'Pink Elephant' brands and operates limited ground handling services at Terminal 1, Heathrow.

For further information visit www.go-ahead.com.

High resolution photos are available to download from the website:http://www.go-ahead.com/goahead/media/image_gallery/