Member Article

‘Ongoing economic weakness in the North East’ restricts Go-Ahead growth

Newcastle-registered transport group Go-Ahead has reported a slowing in revenue growth in the third quarter.

The company revealed that due to the lapping of contract gains in the same period last year, passenger journey growth continued to slow. It cited ‘ongoing economic weakness in the North East’ as having an adverse effect on operations, couple with roadworks in Oxford and Brighton significantly impacting services in those areas.

However, while growth may be restricted the company reported that its position is in line with expectations.

Overall, the company revealed expectations are unchanged. Full year expectations for the bus division remain in line, despite one-off costs such as Singapore bid costs and the impact of strike action, whilst raile performance n the second half of the year is expected to be similar to the first .

The group said it remains in a good financial position with strong cash generation and a robust balance sheet.

David Brown, Group Chief Executive of Go-Ahead, said: “The overall trading performance of both our bus and rail businesses has been satisfactory and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged.

“We continue to make progress in our bus division and remain committed to our strategic target. During the period we welcomed the results of the independent statutory watchdog Passenger Focus’ national bus customer satisfaction survey which named Go-Ahead as the best performing large operator, with our regional bus companies achieving an average satisfaction rate of 90%.

“In our rail division overall underlying trading remains in line with our expectations. We are working closely with Network Rail and other industry partners to minimise the impact on passengers of the major infrastructure works associated with the Government’s £6.5bn Thameslink Programme.”

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