The Go-Ahead Group plc (LON: GOG) today announced its trading update for the period from 30 June 2019 to 27 November 2019. The next scheduled update is the Group’s half year results for the six months ending 28 December 2019 which will be announced on 12 March 2020.
The year to date growth rates in this announcement are for the period from 30 June 2019 to 26 October 2019.
Overview
· High levels of punctuality and customer satisfaction across our bus and rail businesses, with record punctuality in Southeastern and GTR
· Overall regional bus performance is slightly weaker than expected; London & International bus continues to perform well, in line with expectations
· Overall expectations for our rail division remain unchanged, with a good performance in the UK offsetting a challenging operational start to our two new German rail contracts
· Discussions are underway with the Department for Transport (DfT) regarding a potential Direct Award Contract to Southeastern from 1 April 2020
· Mobilisation reaching completion ahead of new bus and rail contract introductions in Ireland, Norway and Germany in December 2019; strong pipeline and bidding programme in our target international markets
Go-Ahead Group Chief Executive, David Brown, said:
“In regional bus, we continue to see growth in passenger journeys and our yield enhancement plans are beginning to deliver improvements. The integration of our new bus company in Manchester, combined with cost pressures in some areas of the business, has slightly lowered our expectations for this division’s financial performance for the full year.
“In our London & International bus division, all of our businesses are performing well and in line with expectations.
“I firmly believe in the fundamental strength of our bus business. Buses have a significant role to play in transforming the way people travel and in slowing the rate of climate change, improving air quality and easing congestion in our towns and cities. We continue to invest in the customer experience and were pleased to introduce the UK’s first tap on, tap off capped payment scheme outside London, on our buses in Brighton. Since launching in September, the number of journeys paid for using this method has grown to 25 per cent of all on-bus transactions.
“In rail, I’m pleased to see the continuation of strong performance across our UK operations, delivering some of the highest levels of punctuality and customer satisfaction ever seen on these networks. In October, GTR completed the introduction of its new fleet of 717 trains delivering greater capacity and reliability to our passengers with 1,500 new carriages brought into service since 2014.
“Internationally, mobilisation is well underway for new contracts that will begin in Norway, Germany and Dublin next month and we continue to consider bidding opportunities across our target markets.”
