Stagecoach trading
‘Satisfactory’ was how Stagecoach described its trading for the 40 weeks ending 1 February 2015. The third quarter of its financial year saw the company’s UK Bus regional operations achieve like-for-like revenue growth of 2.7%, with passenger volumes increasing 0.4%. Although growth in January was lower than in the previous months of the year, it believes this was largely due to year-on-year variations in weather and does not believe it is indicative of change in the underlying rates of growth. It is ‘excited’ about the prospect of further expanding megabus.com coach services in continental Europe, building on the success in the UK and North America.
Revenue growth in Stagecoach’s UK Bus (London) Division has been ‘satisfactory’ during the period, although some revenue was lost in January as a result of a 24-hour strike by bus drivers affecting all major operators of TfL contracts. Excluding the previously reported uplift in contract prices to compensate for the cessation of BSOG, revenue increased by 7.3%.