Go-Ahead H1 Profit Down, Revenues Rise; Cuts FY Forecast - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Go-Ahead Group Plc. (GOG.L), a provider of passenger transport services, reported Tuesday that its first-half profit before tax declined 11.7 percent to 67.0 million pounds from 75.9 million pounds a year ago.

Basic earnings per share fell 6.6 percent to 107.6 million pounds from 115.2 million pounds last year.

Revenue increased 3 percent to 1.72 billion pounds from 1.67 billion pounds a year ago.

The company said its half year results were in line with management expectations.

Further, the company said its Board proposed a 6.5% increase in the interim dividend to 30.17p. This is payable on 21 April 2017 to shareholders registered at the close of business on 31 March 2017. Looking ahead, the company said its full-year expectations have been lowered in both bus and rail due to challenges in GTR and a slowdown in passenger numbers in regional bus.

The company said its expectations for full year regional bus division profitability have lowered as a result of the slowdown in passenger volumes across the business, most notably in the north east and Oxford. Performance in London bus business is in line with expectations for the full year although securing profitable growth in this market, as always, remains challenging. In rail, the long-running industrial relations issues in GTR have introduced additional costs and delays to expected efficiencies which will result in lower than anticipated profits in the full year.