FirstGroup narrows half-year losses

6th Nov 2013 08:25

- Slashes half-year losses - Strong First Student yellow school bus and UK rail division performances- Making progress in turnaround planTransport firm FirstGroup said half-year losses narrowed as stronger profits at its UK rail division and US school bus business outweighed ongoing headwinds at its UK bus operation and US coach service Greyhound.The group, which was forced to launch a deeply discounted £615m rights issue earlier this year to avoid a credit rating downgrade, said loss before tax reduced to £8.0m in the six months ended September 30th from a loss of £20.6m a year previously. Net debt reduced 30.5% to £1.5bn.Statutory operating profit increased 44.3% to £90.6m while revenue for the period was up 1.6% at £3.3bn. FirstGroup's Chief Executive Tim O'Toole said: "We have worked hard to ensure we are positioned to deliver on our potential." "Although it is early days in our multi-year plan to improve our returns, resilience and growth prospects, we are seeing clear indications that we are making progress. While there remains a significant amount to be done, we believe the foundations." FirstGroup, which omitted its interim dividend, said it still intends to recommend a final dividend of £50m for the year to March 31st. CJ