Stagecoach Group plc said Wednesday, June 25, that trading was in line with market forecasts as it posted an eight percent rise in full-year pre-tax profit.
The Scottish bus and rail firm said full-year to £174.4million from £162million. Trading since the year-end in April had also been in line with expectations, Stagecoach said, while the dividend was raised 32 percent to 5.4 pence a share.
"I am pleased to report that we have made a good start to the new financial year and trading is in line with our expectations. We look forward to further growth," Chief Executive and co-founder Brian Souter said in a statement.
Group revenues for the year were up 17.2 percent at £1.76billion. The stronger performance came from rail, which showed 36 percent growth over the 12-month period.
West Coast
Meanwhile, the company said that there was a significant risk that Network Rail would not be able to upgrade the West Coast Main Line in time for critical timetable changes due in December.
Stagecoach, which has a 51 percent stake in Virgin Rail Group, said that Network Rail's recent operational performance on the West Coast Main Line had fallen short of its targets.
Hundreds of thousands of Virgin passengers were left stranded over the New Year holiday and at Easter when Network Rail, failed to complete major engineering projects on time.
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