With tough markets in UK bus and rail, Go-Ahead is looking to overseas markets to deliver growth, says CEO David Brown, pointing to tender wins in Dublin and Singapore.
Announcing its results for the year ended 1 July, revenue was up by 3.6% to £3.4bn, but cost increases saw pre-tax profit squeezed to £136.8m – down 5.7%.
Mr Brown says one-off costs in regional bus neutered profit growth; it fell from £48.5m to £47.1m. With London added, total bus profit was £90.7m, down from £91.2m in 2016.
To counter declining passenger volumes in the North East hitting financial performance, it performing detailed route analysis, restructured timetables, introduced contactless payments and a new customer app.
Oxford had a “challenging year with several bus accidents putting pressure on costs,” alongside local authority cuts reducing revenue and ongoing development in the city centre affecting passenger volumes.
