05/12/2007
Business highlights
- Strong revenue growth in bus and rail in UK and North America
- Continued capital investment to further enhance services
- Continuing growth in UK Bus division
- Revenue up 8.1% (like-for-like growth** 7.8%)
- Operating profit* up 54.0%
- Marketing campaigns, investment in fleet and excellent value fares help drive 3.9% estimated passenger growth
- Strong revenue growth and excellent operational performance in UK Rail
- Revenue up 16.6% (like-for-like growth** 15.2%)
- Best ever operational performance at South Western
- New East Midlands rail franchise from November 2007
- Good start to 10-year Manchester Metrolink operations and maintenance contract
- Continued steady growth in North American bus operations
- Revenue growth and operating margin improvement
Financial highlights
- Revenue from continuing businesses up 9.1% at £820.8m
- 62.1% increase in earnings per share* to 9.4p
- Interim dividend up 12.5% at 1.35 pence per share
- £690m return of value to shareholders completed
| Six months ended 31 October | Results excluding intangible asset expenses and exceptional items |
Reported results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 2006 | 2007 | 2006 | |
| Revenue (£m) | 820.8 | 752.1 | 820.8 | 752.1 |
| Total operating profit (£m) | 100.0 | 80.7 | 93.8 | 101.5 |
| Disposal gains/losses (£m) | - | - | 2.0 | (0.9) |
| Net finance charges (£m) | (15.4) | (3.3) | (15.4) | (3.3) |
| Profit before taxation (£m) | 84.6 | 77.4 | 80.4 | 97.3 |
| Earnings per share (pence) | 9.4 | 5.8 | 9.0 | 18.9 |
| Interim dividend (pence) | 1.35 | 1.2 | 1.35 | 1.2 |
Commenting on the results, Stagecoach Chief Executive Brian Souter said:
“We have achieved further strong growth in our bus and rail operations, leading the market with our innovation and strong stakeholder partnerships.
“Our bus operations in the UK and North America are performing strongly. We believe increasing car congestion, inward migration and a growing focus on environmental issues will provide more opportunities to attract passengers to our public transport services in the years ahead.
“We are delighted to have started our new East Midlands rail franchise, which will deliver a further significant revenue stream for the Group over the next eight years. We are now also Britain’s biggest tram operator and have made an encouraging start to our 10-year Manchester Metrolink contract.
“Stagecoach has taken further steps to develop its budget bus and rail brands, megabus.com and megatrain.com, in the UK and North America and we believe these have additional growth potential. The Group is well-positioned to deliver further value to our shareholders and we are confident in the prospects for the rest of the year.”
Enquiries to: Martin Griffiths, Stagecoach Group +44 (0) 1738 442111
John Kiely, Smithfield +44 (0) 20 7360 4900
*Excluding intangible asset expenses and exceptional items (refer to definition of exceptional items contained in note 4 to the condensed financial statements contained in this document)
**Like-for-like revenue growth is derived, on a constant currency basis, by comparing year-to-date revenue with the equivalent prior year period for those businesses and individual operating units that have been part of the Group throughout both periods.
