FIRSTGROUP PLC - Final Results

Wednesday 10 June 2015

FIRSTGROUP PLC

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR
THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2015

Overview:

Overall trading for the Group in line with management’s expectations
First Student and UK Bus transformations delivered margin improvements, and First Transit and UK Rail outperformance offset reduced Greyhound demand
Secured First Great Western until at least March 2019 and an additional year operating First TransPennine Express
Further strong progress in non-rail businesses expected in the year ahead led by momentum in transformations of First Student and UK Bus, largely offsetting substantially lower UK Rail earnings
Improved financial performance in the year demonstrates our multi-year transformation programme is making progress
Wolfhart Hauser appointed to succeed John McFarlane as Chairman. Group Finance Director Chris Surch to retire in January 2016

Financial summary:

Underlying revenue increased by 4.1%. Reported revenue decreased due to Rail franchise changes, non-recurrence of revenues from UK Bus operations sold or closed in the prior year and foreign exchange translation
Adjusted operating profit increased by 13.3% and Group adjusted margin increased by one percentage point, principally reflecting improvements in First Student and UK Bus
Adjusted attributable profit increased by 48.2%, reflecting transformation plan and lower net finance costs
Statutory attributable profit increased by 38.7%, with non-recurrence of the gain on UK Bus disposals in prior year
Net cash inflow (before UK Rail end of franchise cash outflows of £107.9m) was ahead of expectations at £39.4m
Net debt:EBITDA ratio of 2.25 times as expected, due to UK Rail end of franchise cash outflows and foreign exchange
Group ROCE of 7.8%, or 8.5% at constant exchange rates (2014: 8.2%)
Medium term financial targets unchanged

	2015	2014	Change
Revenue	£6,050.7m	£6,717.4m	(9.9)%

Adjusted¹
- EBITDA²	£624.4m	£579.8m	+7.7%
- Operating profit	£303.6m	£268.0m	+13.3%
- Profit before tax	£163.9m	£111.9m	+46.5%
- Attributable profit	£117.5m	£79.3m	+48.2%
- EPS³	9.8p	7.5p	+30.7%

Statutory
- Operating profit	£245.8m	£232.2m	+5.9%
- Profit before tax	£105.8m	£58.5m	+80.9%
- Attributable profit	£75.2m	£54.2m	+38.7%
- EPS³	6.2p	5.1p	+21.6%

Net debt⁴	£1,407.3m	£1,303.8m	+7.9%

¹ Before amortisation charges and certain other items as set out in note 4 to the financial statements. All references to ‘adjusted’ figures in this document are defined in this way.

² EBITDA is adjusted operating profit less capital grant amortisation plus depreciation.

³ Change in EPS is less than for attributable profit due to the increased weighted average number of shares in issue following the rights issue completed in 2013.

⁴ Net debt is stated excluding accrued bond interest.

Operating summary:

First Student – improved margin by one percentage point to 7.5%, benefiting from average price increases of 4.5% and 90% retention in 2014 bid season, recovery of operating days lost to severe weather in 2013/14, and $19m of cost efficiencies, despite higher costs from localised driver shortages
First Transit – better than anticipated organic growth in year, with 7.1% margin in line with medium term target
Greyhound – actively managed cost base to mitigate contraction in passenger demand from cheaper fuel; yield management implementation on track to launch towards end of first half of 2015/16, as expected
UK Bus – improved margin by one percentage point to 5.8% with local turnaround actions delivering commercial passenger volume growth of 2.6%, positive yield, and cost efficiencies of £15m
UK Rail – strong financial performance with like-for-like passenger revenue growth of 6.7%, underpinned by continued passenger volume growth

Commenting, Chief Executive Tim O’Toole said:

"Overall trading for the year is in line with our expectations and our transformation plan is beginning to deliver improving financial performance, though clearly much hard work remains ahead of us.

"The pricing improvements we made in the 2014 bid season together with further cost savings mean we have made solid margin progress in First Student for the year, and we are also encouraged by the results achieved at this stage in the 2015 bid season. In UK Bus we continue to deliver passenger volume growth, positive yield and further cost efficiencies from our locally focused turnaround actions. Greyhound has flexed mileage, timetables and pricing in response to the rapid reduction in passenger demand from lower fuel prices, and is on track with the yield management upgrade programme. Our First Transit and UK Rail businesses maintained good growth momentum and margins.

"We intend to deliver further progress from our multi-year transformation plans in our 2015/16 financial year. We currently anticipate strong progression in our non-rail businesses, driven mainly by the ongoing turnarounds of First Student and UK Bus, to largely offset the substantially lower contribution from UK Rail as a result of the end of the First ScotRail and First Capital Connect franchises.

"We were awarded a contract to operate First Great Western for up to four and a half more years, and will continue to work closely with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to deliver the £7.5bn Great Western Mainline modernisation programme to at least March 2019. We have also signed an agreement to run First TransPennine Express through to 1 April 2016, and recently submitted our bid to operate the franchise beyond that date.

"Wolfhart Hauser joined the Board of FirstGroup in May and will become Chairman following our AGM in July. Wolfhart's track record of sustained value creation and his experience and counsel will be invaluable as we continue to drive forward the transformation of the Group.

"Our improved financial performance this year demonstrates that our multi-year transformation programme is making progress, though we must maintain the momentum of change to meet our medium term financial targets. Accordingly we will continue to work hard to deliver the considerable potential of the Group and return to a consistent profile of cash generation and sustainable value creation."

For further information please contact:

FirstGroup plc:

Faisal Tabbah, Group Investor Relations Manager

Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7725 3354

Brunswick PR:

Michael Harrison/Andrew Porter

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959

A presentation to investors and analysts will be held at 9:00AM today
Attendance is by invitation
A live telephone ‘listen in’ facility is available
For joining details please contact +44 (0) 20 7725 3354
A playback facility will be available at www.firstgroupplc.com/investors.aspx

Photos for media are available, please call +44 (0) 20 7725 3354

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

FirstGroup is a very important company to the customers and communities we serve. Operating in five major divisions, each a leader in its market, we provide vital transport links for millions of passengers across our core markets in the UK and North America. We are a significant corporate employer with around 110,000 staff, and our services make a vital contribution to linking people together, supporting the economic activity and social well-being of the communities in which we operate.

Innovative, efficient and customer-focused transport services play an increasingly important role in responding to the economic and environmental challenges of continued urbanisation, congestion and demographic change. FirstGroup’s portfolio of leading transport businesses is well positioned to provide the transport solutions needed, and as such has opportunities for sustainable growth and good financial returns in all of its markets. All of this was clear to me when I took on the role of Chairman in January 2014, but it was also obvious that the Group had not been delivering fully on this potential for some time. Two divisions in particular, First Student and UK Bus, were delivering margins well short of their competitors, parts of the business had suffered from a lack of appropriate investment, and the Group as a whole was not achieving acceptable returns for shareholders. Turning this situation round has therefore been the key priority.

The multi-year turnaround programme we are executing is designed to sustainably improve the financial returns of the Group as a whole, mainly through more robust decision-making around pricing, productivity and capital allocation. These areas are of particular importance in First Student and UK Bus, which together account for around two thirds of our annual capital investment budget and have underperformed. With the support of shareholders through the 2013 rights issue, the Group has been able to reinvest in its future growth and commit to ambitious business plans that will deliver sustainable improvements in performance over the medium term, by addressing the Group’s core challenges. With improved balance sheet stability, and a strong and experienced Board of Directors providing challenge and support, the executive team have the platform to make the disciplined, long term decisions necessary to improve the Group’s sustainable returns on capital and cash generation. Over time this will reduce Group leverage and the associated interest burden towards its optimum long term level, and increase shareholder returns. As a matter of course, we continue to review alternative and additional actions to create shareholder value, but nothing compelling has become evident to date.

During the year the Group has made important progress in several key areas. In this respect, I would highlight in particular the success of First Student’s contract portfolio pricing strategy, as well as the ongoing execution of the UK Bus turnaround plan, which has successfully stimulated renewed passenger volume growth and is beginning to capture yield. Both of these key divisions have taken important strategic steps to reposition themselves in their markets for the medium term, while also executing significant cost reduction programmes. Continued disciplined execution over the coming years will be required to deliver the full benefits of these important changes, but we are encouraged by the margin improvements these divisions have delivered in the year. Although Greyhound’s performance this year has been significantly affected by the sharp fall in fuel prices in the second half, we remain on track with its transformation into a yield-managed, customer-oriented business, which will enhance returns from this division in the future, whatever the oil price.

In the year the Department for Transport (DfT) awarded us a contract to continue operating our largest rail franchise, First Great Western, to at least March 2019, and a contract to run First TransPennine Express for an additional year. We were disappointed not to secure the renewal of the First ScotRail franchise, and were unsuccessful in four other bids but these were awarded at economic levels that were unacceptable to us. We were and will remain disciplined in our approach to bidding for these significant contracts.

Overall, the Group is broadly where we expected to be at this stage of the transformation plan, and has begun to demonstrate the improvements in financial performance that were clearly required. Underlying Group revenue increased by 4.1%, but more importantly operating profit increased by 13.3%, adjusted profit before tax improved by 46.5%, and adjusted profit attributable to ordinary shareholders increased by 48.2%. Adjusted EPS increased by 30.7%, less than attributable profit because of the increased number of shares following the rights issue. Group ROCE was 7.8%, or 8.5% at constant exchange rates, a 0.3 percentage point improvement compared with 8.2% in 2013/14. Group cash flow, though still significantly below our potential, was better than our initial expectations, and we expect the actions we are taking will increase this substantially over time. In due course, the Board is confident that the business plans being executed will return the Group to a sustainable cash generative position, with the potential to resume payment of a dividend. However at this stage of the Group’s transformation, and having regard to the commitment to the capital investment programme and the importance of strengthening the balance sheet further, the Board considers it appropriate to continue to refrain from reinstating a dividend at this point.

In some respects, the significant improvements in financial results this year are a reflection of past underperformance, and there remain a number of headwinds to navigate, but I am confident that we are executing the most appropriate actions to return the Group to a sustainably stronger long term position. We have made encouraging progress in the year, and some of the most important actions have yet to manifest themselves fully in the financial results. The improving financial results from First Student and UK Bus, our most capital intensive businesses, reinforce our confidence in the future. With a continued focus on execution and a commitment to change, I remain confident that the Group will succeed in turning its attractive portfolio of market-leading transport businesses into acceptable returns for shareholders as planned.

Of course all of this progress is only made possible by the continued commitment of our employees to delivering quality services for our customers and communities. On behalf of the Board I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all our employees for their hard work and dedication.

Chris Surch will be retiring from the role of Group Finance Director on 8 January 2016, following his decision to step down from a full-time executive role for personal reasons. The Board has commenced a formal search for his replacement. On behalf of the Board and everyone at FirstGroup I would like to thank Chris for his commitment to the transformation of the Group over the last three years. We respect his decision to step down and he will be leaving with our good wishes for the future.

In May I was pleased to welcome Wolfhart Hauser to the Board as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman Designate. He has an exemplary track record of sustained value creation and is a highly experienced Non-Executive Director. It is with regret that I am required to step down from the Chairmanship of FirstGroup at the AGM in July, in order to fully dedicate myself to the task of bringing Barclays to full health. However, with Wolfhart succeeding me as Chairman, I will be leaving FirstGroup in capable hands. I wish him and all at FirstGroup well for the future.

John McFarlane

Chairman
10 June 2015

Note: Operating profit referred to throughout this document refers to operating profit before amortisation charges and certain other items as set out in note 4 to the financial statements. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) is calculated by dividing adjusted operating profit after tax by all assets and liabilities excluding debt items.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW

In 2013 we put forward a multi-year programme to reposition the Group for improved financial performance and to restore us to a profile of consistent financial returns, more reflective of our leading market positions and our international capabilities. We strengthened the balance sheet to give us the flexibility to invest in this transformation, and set out detailed medium term financial targets. We are confident that this programme represents the most compelling way to drive a sustained improvement in returns for our shareholders while continuing to deliver for our other stakeholders.

Progress with our transformation plans

I am pleased to say that the Group as a whole has made good progress in our transformation over the last two years, notwithstanding some unexpected external challenges since that time. In First Student we continue to make progress in renewing our contract portfolio at prices more reflective of the capital we employ whilst delivering significant cost efficiencies, despite the unusually severe winter in North America in 2013/14. In UK Bus our tailored market-by-market approach has restored our ability to deliver passenger volume growth and market-based pricing yields whilst also reducing our cost base. In Greyhound our programme to adopt yield management and customer relationship management systems is on track – and the importance of having these tools has been amply highlighted by the impact of fuel price volatility on passenger demand this year. We have secured continued operation of First Great Western until at least March 2019, which provides us with an important foundation to build on in the UK rail industry. We were disappointed with the outcome of recent franchise competitions, but we remain confident that our disciplined bidding process is the most appropriate approach for us. Moreover, our track record of operational delivery stands us in good stead as the remaining two thirds of the franchises by value are awarded over the next five years. Importantly during a period when we have been reinvesting in the business, our cash generation is ahead of our initial expectations.

As our transformation plans move forward, we will continue to build on the improvements in our revenue and profitability towards our medium term growth and margin targets. We expect to continue to invest across the Group at similar absolute levels for the medium term, with our free cash flow improving over time as our operating earnings increase. We also expect our financing costs to continue to reduce, as cash generation increases and our relatively high coupon bonds mature over time. We continue to target a ROCE of 10-12% and a net debt:EBITDA ratio of two times in the medium term, and remain committed to reinstating a sustainable dividend policy at the appropriate time.

We focus on five strategic objectives where our strengths and capabilities across the Group have the most potential to add value: these are focused and disciplined bidding in our contract businesses, driving growth through attractive commercial propositions in our passenger revenue businesses, continuous improvement in operating and financial performance, prudent investment in our key assets (fleets, systems and people), and maintaining responsible partnerships with our customers and communities.

People

In March 2015 we were pleased to announce that Wolfhart Hauser would join the Board from May, and will become Chairman following our AGM in July. Wolfhart recently retired after ten years as CEO of Intertek Group plc, the international quality and safety services provider and FTSE 100 constituent. Under his leadership, Intertek developed from a medium-sized group of separate testing businesses into an integrated global organisation with more than 38,000 employees and operations in more than 100 countries. Wolfhart’s track record of sustained value creation and his experience and counsel will be invaluable as we continue to drive forward the transformation of the Group. On behalf of the Board and our employees, I would also like to thank John McFarlane for the important contribution he has made during his tenure as Chairman and we wish him every success as Chairman of Barclays.

I would like to echo the sentiments of the Chairman in thanking Chris Surch for his contribution to the Group since he joined in 2012. During this time of significant transformation he has played a key role in placing the business on a stronger footing and he will leave with our good wishes in all his future endeavours.

During the year our former colleagues at First Capital Connect and First ScotRail transferred into new franchise owners. We worked hard to ensure smooth transitions and we wish them well for the future.

We continue to invest in our people throughout the Group, giving them the leadership, professional development and other tools which are strengthening our ability to deliver our transformation plans and leverage the extraordinary breadth of expertise across our business.

Outlook

We intend to deliver further progress from our multi-year transformation plans in our 2015/16 financial year. We currently anticipate strong progression in our non-rail businesses, driven mainly by the ongoing turnarounds of First Student and UK Bus, to largely offset the substantially lower contribution from UK Rail as a result of the end of the First ScotRail and First Capital Connect franchises.

First Student will continue to seek higher pricing with the resultant risk of some contract losses during the 2015 bid season, though with just over half of the negotiations completed so far, we are encouraged by our progress, with average price increases achieved to date of over 5%. We anticipate this improvement together with further cost efficiencies to result in further margin progress for First Student in 2015/16, despite an impact of approximately $17m to operating profit as a result of the lower number of operating days compared with the prior year. We expect First Transit to continue to bid for contracts offering good margins with modest capital investment, though we expect some reductions in demand for our shuttle services in the Canadian oil sands region as a result of lower oil prices. In Greyhound we expect our yield management systems to be operational from the middle of our 2015/16 financial year, with the financial benefits building over time. If recent oil prices are sustained throughout the year, we would expect Greyhound passenger demand to remain relatively muted, and we will continue to manage our variable costs in response. In UK Bus we will continue to drive overall volume growth and market-based yield enhancements while targeting further cost efficiencies in 2015/16, tailoring our actions to local conditions in the light of the progress each market has made through our turnaround plan. UK Rail’s contribution to Group earnings will be substantially lower in 2015/16, as a result of the First Capital Connect and First ScotRail franchises coming to an end. As previously indicated, we expect cash flow in our 2015/16 year to be broadly flat before the remaining UK Rail end of franchise outflows of approximately £30m.

Our improved financial performance this year demonstrates that our multi–year transformation programme is making progress, though we must maintain the momentum of change to meet our medium term financial targets. Accordingly we will continue to work hard to deliver the considerable potential of the Group and return to a consistent profile of cash generation and sustainable value creation.

Tim O’Toole

Chief Executive

10 June 2015

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW

Reported Group revenue decreased by 9.9% in the year to £6,050.7m (2014: £6,717.4m), principally reflecting UK Rail franchise changes, non-recurring revenues from UK Bus operations sold or closed in the prior year and foreign exchange translation. Excluding these items, revenue increased by 4.1%. Adjusted Group margin increased to 5.0% (2014: 4.0%). The US Dollar margin of our largest division First Student improved by 1.0%, reflecting the successful outcome of the first year of our new contract bidding strategy and no repeat of the exceptionally severe winter weather conditions in the prior year. The UK Bus margin also improved by 1.0% as a result of continued progress in our turnaround programme. During the second half of the year Greyhound margins deteriorated due to the adverse effect on customer demand from sharply lower fuel prices, closing the year at 6.9% (2014: 7.4%). UK Rail profitability improved significantly, reflecting good passenger revenue growth and First Great Western moving to normal commercial terms part way through last year. Group adjusted operating profit increased by 13.3% to £303.6m (2014: £268.0m). Adjusted profit attributable to ordinary shareholders increased by 48.2% to £117.5m (2014: £79.3m), due to higher adjusted operating profit and lower net finance costs. Adjusted EPS increased by a lower percentage to 9.8p (2014: 7.5p), due to the increased weighted average number of shares in issue following the rights issue completed in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 7.7% to £624.4m (2014: £579.8m). Statutory operating profit was £245.8m (2014: £232.2m), reflecting the higher adjusted operating profit partly offset by the gain on disposal of London operations in UK Bus last year. The net debt:EBITDA ratio was 2.25 times (2014: 2.25 times), in part reflecting the UK Rail end of franchise cash outflows in the year and foreign exchange translation. ROCE was 7.8%, or 8.5% (2014: 8.2%) at constant exchange rates. All references to ‘adjusted’ figures throughout this document are before amortisation charges and certain other items as set out in note 4 to the financial statements.

The net cash inflow for the year before UK Rail end of franchise cash flows was £39.4m (2014: £26.9m). This cash inflow, combined with the end of franchise outflows and movements in debt due to foreign exchange, contributed to an increase in net debt of £103.5m (2014: decrease of £675.3m, including £584.4m in net proceeds of the rights issue). The net cash inflow before UK Rail end of franchise cash flows was slightly higher than the prior year, principally reflecting stronger cash generation by our operations, lower tax and interest payments and higher proceeds from disposals of property, plant and equipment, partly offset by the planned higher capital expenditure and the London disposal proceeds in UK Bus last year.

During the year gross capital investment of £425.1m (2014: £464.7m) was invested in our business to continue our transformation programme and help reposition the Group for future growth. We expect to continue investing approximately £400m per annum in capital expenditure in our businesses in the medium term.

Progress with the transformation programme in the year has reinforced our confidence in delivering our medium term financial objectives, which are as follows:

We aim to increase Group revenue (excluding UK Rail) at a faster rate than the economies we serve, through attractive customer propositions in our passenger revenue-based services, and disciplined bidding in our contract-based businesses.

In First Student and UK Bus we aim to improve margins to double digit levels through the detailed turnaround plans underway. Greyhound targets a margin of approximately 12% in part through investment in yield management systems. In First Transit we will continue our record of growth while maintaining margins of approximately 7%, and in UK Rail we will maintain our disciplined approach to bidding in a range of future franchise competitions where we see an opportunity to deliver ambitious improvements for passengers and appropriate returns for shareholders, at an acceptable level of risk.

Overall our objective is to achieve ROCE in the range of 10% to 12% in the medium term.

We also aim to maintain an investment grade credit rating and appropriate balance sheet liquidity and headroom. In the medium term we are targeting net debt:EBITDA of approximately two times.

Divisional reviews

	Year to 31 March 2015				Year to 31 March 2014
	Revenue	Operating profit¹	Operating margin¹	Revenue		Operating profit¹	Operating margin¹
Divisional results	£m	£m	%	£m		£m	%
First Student	1,478.8	114.9	7.8%	1,467.4		93.5	6.4%
First Transit	844.8	59.7	7.1%	811.9		60.3	7.4%
Greyhound	609.6	41.7	6.8%	624.6		46.4	7.4%
UK Bus	896.1	51.8	5.8%	930.2		44.4	4.8%
UK Rail	2,207.1	74.1	3.4%	2,870.1	55.2	1.9%
Group²	14.3	(38.6)		13.2		(31.8)
Total Group	6,050.7	303.6	5.0%	6,717.4		268.0	4.0%

North America in US Dollars	$m	$m	%	$m		$m	%
First Student	2,368.6	177.3	7.5%	2,339.3		152.8	6.5%
First Transit	1,362.1	96.1	7.1%	1,290.5		95.7	7.4%
Greyhound	986.0	68.5	6.9%	990.6		73.2	7.4%
Total North America	4,716.7	341.9	7.2%	4,620.4		321.7	7.0%

¹Adjusted.

² Tramlink operations, central management and other items.

First Student

Revenue in our First Student division was $2,368.6m or £1,478.8m (2014: $2,339.3m or £1,467.4m), 1.3% higher on a US Dollar basis, benefiting from our successful pricing strategy during the 2014 bid season and modest organic growth. Operating profit was $177.3m or £114.9m (2014: $152.8m or £93.5m), resulting in a US Dollar margin of 7.5% (2014: 6.5%). The one percentage point improvement in margin reflects the benefits of our pricing strategy in respect of the approximately one third of the portfolio retendered in the 2014 bid season, recovery of operating days lost to the severe weather in the prior year, a benefit of $19m in the year from our ongoing $50m per annum cost efficiency programme, partially offset by continued pockets of driver shortage in parts of the business and cost inflation running slightly ahead of price indexation on the bulk of our contracts not yet rebid under our pricing strategy.

Focused and disciplined bidding

A key element of our turnaround plan in First Student is addressing contract portfolio pricing on new bids and renewals to ensure that we achieve appropriate returns on capital on our contract portfolio. As is typical, approximately one third of our bus portfolio was up for renewal in the 2014 bid season, and we were pleased to achieve average price increases on these contracts of approximately 4.5%. Our contract retention rate of 90% on those contracts up for bid was at the upper end of our range of expectations. As a result, the proportion of First Student’s contract portfolio earning margins below 5% has reduced from 36% in 2014 to below 30% in the current year. The level of acceptance of our price increases, together with a third year of modest organic growth under existing contracts, suggests that market conditions are continuing to improve. We continue to compete effectively in the conversion market from in-house to privately operated services, which we believe offers significantly better value, though at present the number of new outsourcing opportunities continues to be limited. Together with some ‘share shift’ wins from competitors and a small tuck-in acquisition in New York, our overall bus fleet reduced by around 60 buses, remaining just over 49,000.

Continuous improvement in operating and financial performance

In addition to the pricing strategy, we made good progress on the next phase of our cost efficiency programme. We are rolling out a programme to address the recruitment challenges we have faced in some localised parts of our business, which includes an applicant tracking system developed in our UK divisions, and further savings continue to be driven by implementing and monitoring compliance with identified best practice operating procedures throughout our more than 500 locations. This programme has now delivered around $120m in annual cost efficiencies including $19m in 2014/15 as targeted, and we expect to deliver a further $30m per annum in savings by the end of the 2016/17 financial year. Almost three quarters of our engineering locations have achieved silver or gold ‘lean’ certification. Key areas of opportunity going forward include further savings from lean engineering and maintenance procedures, employee productivity, procurement and more efficient use of fuel.

Prudent investment in our key assets

We continue to increase our use of technology to raise customer service levels, promote environmental benefits and differentiate our services. Our FOCUS GPS system (which links onboard data to back office systems) is now fitted throughout the bus fleet, and functions as a platform for additional improvements. For example, our DriveSMART initiative, which combines driver training with fuel use data from FOCUS, incrementally saved nearly $6m in fuel costs in the year. We are also carrying out field trials this year on a system using FOCUS to give parents the ability to track bus location in real time, which will be ready for roll out in time for the 2016 bid season. Our MyFirstPass system continues to be deployed in selected locations, giving parents and schools timely information on student ridership through swipe card technology. We invested approximately $280m in new buses, refurbishments and onboard technology in the year; our average fleet age remained constant at 7.5 years.

We also continue to develop our more structured approach to charter business, which delivers very strong incremental returns on capital employed as it utilises the existing bus fleet in between the contracted services at the beginning and end of the school day. In the year we opened three regional charter centres, handling almost a third of all our non-school charter work, which grew by 7% in the year.

Responsible partnerships with our customers and communities

Our services form an integral part of the school experience for the millions of children in our care each day, and we take our responsibilities to them and to their parents, schools and communities very seriously. We are pleased to have achieved a sixth consecutive year of improved customer service scores, and we had a strong performance in our safety KPIs. Continuous improvement in our customer service and safety track record is deeply embedded in our values as an organisation, and is also a competitive advantage.

In addition to cost savings, the 2% improvement in fuel efficiency from our DriveSMART initiative reduces our environmental impact, and our alternative fuel fleet continues to grow, increasing by 250 buses in the year.

Future priorities

First Student is a leader in our marketplace, both in terms of our size and the quality and safety of the services we provide. Through the continuation of our turnaround plan, we will deliver our medium term target of double digit margins by ensuring that we continue to bid or renew contracts only at prices that reflect the quality of service we provide and the capital that we employ. In addition we continue to implement and monitor best practice policies and procedures in all key areas throughout our business to reduce cost. In the longer term, First Student’s unique market position, value proposition and increasing operational efficiency will ensure we are increasingly well placed to grow through further share shift, tuck-in acquisitions and organic opportunities.

Outlook

During the 2015 bid season First Student is continuing to seek higher pricing with the resultant risk of some contract losses. With just over half of the negotiations completed so far, we are encouraged by our progress, with average price increases achieved to date of over 5%. We expect this improvement, together with additional cost efficiencies, to result in further margin improvement in 2015/16, despite an impact of approximately $17m to operating profit as a result of fewer operating days due to the timing of Easter and Labor Day, which will reverse in our 2016/17 financial year.

First Transit

Revenue in our First Transit division was $1,362.1m or £844.8m (2014: $1,290.5m or £811.9m). US Dollar revenue increased by 5.5%, with revenue growth during the year in all of our divisional sub-segments, driven by the timing of contract awards and higher than anticipated organic growth on existing contracts. Operating profit was $96.1m or £59.7m (2014: $95.7m or £60.3m), resulting in a margin of 7.1% (2014: 7.4%), which is in line with our expectations and medium term objectives.

Focused and disciplined bidding

During the year, we continued to maintain our track record of profitable growth in a range of segments, whilst developing opportunities in new markets. Through collaborative partnerships with public transit authorities and private customers, we also generated organic growth on existing contracts at the higher end of our planning range. Contract retention remained at a high level, as our customers continued to respond positively to our capabilities and competitive pricing. As previously indicated two of our larger contracts came to an end during the second half of the year, including one which was delivering margins below the divisional average, and few recently awarded contracts started up in the second half, though we continued to win additional new business that will commence in 2015/16.

In the year we were awarded new paratransit contracts in Minnesota, Florida and the San Francisco Bay area; fixed route contracts in Orange County, California and shuttle bus operations at colleges in New York state and Rhode Island, as well as a shuttle bus contract at Oklahoma City airport. In addition, we used expertise from our UK-based divisions and First Transit’s existing client relationships to win business in the rapidly growing North American Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) market. We continue to see further opportunities to grow our shuttle business in the years ahead, which is the only part of the division that requires significant capital investment.

Key contract retentions during the year included our paratransit contract with Metropolitan Council in Minneapolis, our transit management contract with Connecticut Transit, and our shuttle bus operations at New Jersey University and Kennesaw State University. We also extended contracts for one of our fixed route operations in Denver and our shuttle bus operation at Houston International Airport.

Continuous improvement in operating and financial performance

First Transit’s opportunities continue to arise from successful competitive bidding, but also through attracting business that is being outsourced to the private sector for the first time. Our continued service and efficiency innovations help give us a competitive advantage compared to both public and private counterparts – in particular, our national service platform, technology infrastructure and management expertise are important differentiators. We continue to invest in our industry-leading technology including a suite of innovative real-time information solutions which will deliver cost efficiencies and better data for our clients, and improved performance for us.

Prudent investment in our key assets

In First Transit we continue to focus investment spending on three principal areas: people, technology solutions and on vehicles for the shuttle segment, where typically we own the fleets and are continuing to invest to grow our leading university and airport shuttle portfolio.

We maintained our significant investment in recruitment, retention and continuous training of our people to ensure we have the depth of expertise required for our bid submissions and for subsequent service delivery that meets customer expectations. We are introducing an applicant tracking system for prospective new employees in the year, based on a successful system developed in our UK divisions.

Last year we initiated the roll out of our upgraded management dashboard, providing automated operational, maintenance and financial information, which is delivering cost savings. Our local management and regional support teams are now better equipped, with rapid and detailed information on their businesses readily available, increasing their ability to address any issues quickly and more completely. The dashboard provides a centralised repository of operational data and the ability to display KPIs in a user-friendly graphical interface, and allows management to make better and more informed decisions on the day-to-day operations of their systems, as well as plan for long term operational improvements. Other initiatives we have progressed through the year include predictive maintenance analytics and paperless workshop systems using tablet computers to improve performance.

Responsible partnerships with our customers and communities

Our commitment to safety, technical and operational knowledge and professionalism is particularly recognised by our customers and our safety KPIs and customer service trends improved in the year. We are also at the forefront of the industry in developing mobile apps for our clients, allowing registered riders to monitor service disruptions, timetables and the location of services in real time.

We have enhanced our leading safety programme through the continued roll out of DriveCam technology, an event capture and driver behaviour monitoring system, which has the added benefit of improving fuel efficiency.

Future priorities

There is continued growth potential in each of our markets, particularly in the shuttle segment and in paratransit work for larger cities. The outlook for further outsourcing opportunities is positive and potential opportunities are also growing in light rail, commuter rail and BRT, where we will seek to harness the strong expertise in our UK divisions as we examine potential bids in these areas. The expertise of our people and the quality of our technology gives First Transit a competitive advantage. We have a track record of innovation and in delivering cost efficiencies, which in turn ensures that, despite an increasingly competitive market, we will remain the low cost supplier of choice for our customers. We continue to anticipate achieving a margin of approximately 7% in the medium term, which we believe is attractive in the context of the limited capital employed in the division.

Outlook

The overall pipeline of potential new business remains attractive as local authorities continue to consider ways to deliver transport services more cost effectively. Whilst we do anticipate some reductions in our provision of shuttle services to the Canadian oil sands sector during the year as a result of the lower oil price, we have a number of new business opportunities to help offset that impact.

Greyhound

During the year US Dollar revenue decreased by 0.5% to $986.0m or £609.6m (2014: $990.6m or £624.6m), reflecting the adverse effect on customer demand from sharply lower fuel prices, which improves the affordability of other forms of transport for some trips compared with Greyhound. As a result of the more flexible operating model introduced in recent years, we were able to react rapidly to the situation, actively managing mileage, timetables and pricing in response to these changed market conditions. Nevertheless Greyhound’s operating profit was $68.5m or £41.7m (2014: $73.2m or £46.4m), resulting in a US Dollar margin below the prior year level at 6.9% (2014: 7.4%). Although our point-to-point brands were also somewhat affected by the sharply lower fuel prices, Greyhound Express continued to grow profitably, with like-for-like revenue growth of 3.0% during the year, compared with a like-for-like revenue decrease of 0.1% for the division as a whole.

Driving growth through attractive commercial propositions

Greyhound is one of the most iconic brands in transport, with a unique national network giving us a competitive advantage and an established base for future growth. Passengers from our traditional network, which operates from some 3,800 locations across North America, help us feed our point-to-point brands including Greyhound Express and BoltBus. Our point-to-point brands have always operated modern, environmentally friendly buses equipped with features such as free Wi-Fi, power outlets, leather seats, extra legroom and guaranteed seating, and some of these amenities are being extended throughout the traditional network. Last summer we added additional destinations in Texas, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, to take our Greyhound Express footprint to 135 markets.

During the year we updated our Wi-Fi platform allowing passengers to stay connected throughout their journey, and launched an onboard catalogue of destination packages that allows them to purchase tickets to theatrical events, attractions and onward transportation offers, including shuttles and taxis, all from their seat using their own Wi-Fi enabled devices. We are using learnings from our point-to-point brands to improve the customer offering in our traditional business and attract a new demographic to bus travel. As an example of this, Greyhound’s passenger app for smartphone users, which launched this year and gives access to scheduling information as well as the ability to purchase tickets and view completed bookings, was based on the BoltBus product. Similarly the recently launched app for BoltBus drivers, which streamlines boarding by allowing our drivers to scan tickets and allows us to manage inventory better, is acting as a test bed for a product which we will launch across the much larger and more complex traditional Greyhound network in the coming year.

Continuous improvement in operating and financial performance

We have invested in the quality of our services and have improved our ability to flex costs in response to changes in demand, although our traditional network today remains relatively dependent on macro-economic factors such as fuel prices or employment levels. In response to changes in demand, we were able to react rapidly to the changed market conditions and manage our variable costs in order to mitigate the impact on margin performance year on year. We continue to make progress towards returning Greyhound Canada to profitability through our ongoing efforts to optimise our network in the country. Our Greyhound Package Express business, which carries parcels on our buses, is evolving to adopt more modernised technology and now offers the ability to track and trace parcels.

Prudent investment in our key assets

Our most important area of investment is a programme to replicate the successful business model developed in our newer point-to-point services across the whole Greyhound network. As we have previously indicated, we are equipping our traditional business with real-time dynamic pricing and yield management capabilities, together with improved customer relationship management tools. Amongst other opportunities, these tools will increase our ability to stimulate demand throughout the macro-economic cycle, and allow us to shift demand to off-peak times more easily, resulting in better utilisation of existing seat inventory.

The most time intensive aspect of the project has been to transform Greyhound’s proprietary pricing and routing system into a position where it was able to be augmented with additional software components. Our bespoke but ageing system, which had been built over many years to manage the unique challenges of a network with more than 3,800 destinations and 48,000 routing combinations, has now been upgraded and transferred to a more robust infrastructure in line with our plans. The current focus of the project is the complex integration into the system of software packages similar to those used in aviation, retailing and other industries. We are also augmenting our commercial team with individuals experienced in these industries. The programme is on track to be operational across the network during our 2015/16 financial year. We have already begun taking pricing and yield management actions in certain regions and gathering the resulting data, in order to help refine the parameters of the nationwide systems and processes that are being introduced.

As part of the project we are also making good progress with our plans to upgrade our retail distribution strategy. Web ticket sales are now a very important sales channel where we see more than half of our transactions. Within that, mobile sales are the fastest growing segment accounting for a third of web sales, and our apps account for 20% of the mobile total. A completely refreshed Greyhound website with augmented functionality is due to go live in summer 2015. Increased use of web and mobile sales channels improves our ability to communicate our prices to customers, making our yield and price management actions more effective. In addition our customers can more easily act on the price benefits of advance ticket purchases when they have the flexibility to do so, which in turn enables us to operate more efficiently as we have increased visibility of demand. Further customer relationship management enhancements are also planned for the next year, including upgrading our customer loyalty programme.

During the year we introduced 100 new vehicles to our fleet, completing the balance of the large coach order placed in the prior year. We also refurbished around 70 coaches to the same standard, which means that a substantial majority of our operational fleet is now either new or recently refurbished.

Responsible partnerships with our customers and communities

The increased customer engagement that our new systems will bring will allow us to use technology to better understand the needs of our individual passengers. This will enable us to improve our customer satisfaction scores and better align our services with the needs of our passengers.

In the year, we were selected by Forbes magazine in its list of top 500 companies to work for in the United States, ranked ahead of hundreds of well known companies across 25 industries, and Greyhound was the only intercity bus company to be recognised. More than 20,000 American workers at companies with at least 2,500 employees were involved in the survey, which asked employees how likely they would be to recommend their employer to someone else.

During 2014 we celebrated our centenary with a series of events throughout the year including exhibitions, in-terminal commemorations, employee awards and a centennial tour which travelled across the US featuring our restored classic fleet and showcasing the best of today’s business. We also increased traditional marketing efforts in conjunction with the centenary in order to drive additional interest in our improved offering.

Future priorities

Our efforts to introduce real-time pricing, yield management and customer relationship management capabilities into the business will give us far greater visibility and granularity on passenger demand over time, allowing us to optimise our schedules, assets and pricing to maximise demand for our services. We will also continue to grow our point-to-point business, although the rate of growth in new services is likely to slow now that many of the closer cities in North America are already connected. We remain confident of achieving our 12% margin target, recognising however that long term oil price trends may impact the timing.

Outlook

We will continue to actively manage our pricing, frequencies and other variable costs in response to trends in passenger demand growth, which we anticipate will remain relatively muted if recent oil price levels are sustained throughout the year. Meanwhile, we will continue to take actions to return our Canadian network to profitability. We expect our yield management systems to be operational from the middle of our 2015/16 financial year, with the financial benefits building over time as we develop our expertise in analysing and using the new tools at our disposal, and passengers begin to respond to our actions.

UK Bus

Revenue in our UK Bus division was £896.1m (2014: £930.2m) with like-for-like passenger revenue increasing by 2.3% excluding the contribution from discontinued and disposed businesses in the prior year. Responding to the changes we have made to our fares, networks and service quality, and despite mixed economic conditions across the division, like-for-like passenger volumes increased by 1.1% in the year. Within this, commercial passenger volume growth increased by 2.6% on a like-for-like basis, whilst concession volumes were modestly lower. In the second half of the year, many parts of our business reached the anniversary of our fare rebasing actions, and have begun to benefit from positive yield from periodic price increases in line with the market. Operating profit increased to £51.8m (2014: £44.4m) and operating margin increased by one percentage point to 5.8% (2014: 4.8%), reflecting operating leverage to growth and our ongoing cost efficiency programmes.

Driving growth through attractive commercial propositions

With our initial programme of significant network changes largely completed in the year, the focus is now on the commercial opportunities that our empowered local management teams can deliver through deploying their resources and adjusting networks, timetables and pricing to serve the needs of their markets. During the year examples included the introduction of a single brand, the Cymru Clipper, covering all our inter-urban services across South Wales. In both Bristol and Glasgow we are pleased to be launching routes serving major new hospitals, whilst in Manchester the acquisition of the Finglands business in the prior year meant that we were able to launch a second cross-city service connecting the two major universities in the year. We worked closely with a number of local authorities to integrate tendered services into commercial networks in order to meet passenger needs in the face of reduced Government subsidy. In the year we worked closely with Cornwall County Council to minimise the impact on customers of the closure of rival operator Western Greyhound.

We have also rebased our fares structures throughout the division, with the majority of our networks seeing some reductions in prices, particularly of period ticket products. With rebased pricing and good volume growth, we now have a platform to consider further periodic price increases in line with the market across our local networks. Our focus remains on offering attractive fares products to deliver loyalty and attract new customers.

During the year we acted on our two major fares consultations in Bristol and the West of England and, as a result of the thousands of comments received from our customers, the majority of our single fares were reduced and flat fares were introduced in the area, with consistent child and young person discounts on all products of 50% and 30% respectively. We have seen strong results with passenger volumes in Bristol up by 19% year-on-year.

We were pleased with the results of the independent Bus Passenger Survey, undertaken during the year by Transport Focus, in which we equalled our record score of 86% for overall customer satisfaction across the country, following a 5 percentage point rise in 2013. Our networks in both York and East Scotland were amongst the highest scoring of any bus operator, whilst we were particularly encouraged by our overall value for money score, which has improved by 17 percentage points over two years and is now above the national average.

Continuous improvement in operating and financial performance

Operating discipline, cost optimisation and focused investment in our fleets and our people are improving our service delivery while increasing customer satisfaction. We delivered cost reductions relating to productivity, fuel efficiency, procurement, engineering and maintenance of approximately £15m during the year. Our drive to improve our engineering performance, through investment in fleet and depot transformation, has led to decreases in both defects and breakdowns with a corresponding increase in service performance. However in some areas we have experienced disruption due to road repair programmes which has affected punctuality. We work hard with local authorities to overcome these issues, and in many instances we have redeployed fleet and drivers to help ease the situation.

Prudent investment in our key assets

We successfully bid for a number of shuttle bus contracts, including new Park & Ride sites in Leeds, Taunton, Portsmouth and in York, where our fleet now consists of 12 electric buses. In Aberdeen we operate our full complement of hydrogen vehicles, partnering with numerous organisations including the city council. During the year we took delivery of more than 270 Wrightbus StreetLite Micro Hybrid buses, which improve fuel efficiency by up to 30%, and which we played a large part in developing with the manufacturer. After the year end we placed a £77.6m order for 385 vehicles for delivery in 2015/16, with more than 90% fitted with Euro 6 engines, the biggest investment in such lower emission engines in the UK to date. The buses will be fitted with free Wi-Fi and we will trial USB charging points on some vehicles.

During the year we introduced mobile ticketing onto all of our networks, and take up of this new sales channel has been encouraging. We are seeing particularly good growth in student markets, where we invested in promotion at the beginning of the academic year. The development and marketing of our apps, with period products enabled, gives us a strong base to offer more ticket products on this platform.

We are also playing a leading role to deliver the industry commitment to launch multi-operator smart ticketing across the city regions in England by December 2015. During the year smartcard schemes were launched in West Yorkshire, Hampshire and Bristol, and these will continue to develop further going forward.

Responsible partnerships with our customers and communities

We continue to explore opportunities to work in closer partnership with local authorities in all of our markets, as our objective to get more people onto buses typically aligns very well with their ambition to reduce congestion and stimulate economic activity. Our approach complements the Government’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ agenda, a focus for many of the local markets in which we operate. Across all our networks we are actively promoting enhanced partnership arrangements, building on the success we have had in South Yorkshire – where passenger volumes in both Sheffield and Rotherham have risen strongly since partnerships were introduced.

We were key transport partners for a number of high profile events during the year and were particularly delighted to be Official Supporter – Passenger Transport Services to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. We also provided shuttle buses for the Ryder Cup golf tournament at Gleneagles in September. We are a sponsor of Bristol European Green Capital 2015, and are partnering with the city on events and logistics throughout the year while trialling a number of sustainable technologies and processes.

Future priorities

While there is still some way to go, we are delivering our turnaround plan as forecasted to restore double digit margins to UK Bus by the end of 2017, which will be achieved from a continuation of our efforts to drive increased volume, coupled with market-based yield enhancement and continuing cost efficiencies. We believe that our strategy, which is based on delivering a competitive customer proposition coupled with improved operating discipline and strong partnerships with local authorities, is the most responsive, efficient and cost-effective way to deliver the outcomes that bus passengers and taxpayers want and we will continue to promote this strategy going forwards. By tailoring our actions to local market conditions in the light of the progress each part of our business has made through our turnaround plan, we will continue to create a business focused on passenger needs with engaged local management, delivering increasingly attractive services at competitive prices.

Outlook

We expect our transformation plan to deliver further volume growth in 2015/16, and now that many parts of our business have passed the anniversary of our fare rebasing actions, revenue growth is also expected to benefit from positive yield from periodic price increases in line with the market. Operating leverage from this growth, coupled with our cost efficiency programmes, are expected to ensure that we will make further progress during 2015/16 towards our medium term target of double digit margins.

UK Rail

Our UK Rail division continues to benefit from robust growth in passenger volumes, with like-for-like passenger revenue increasing by 6.7% during the year, at the top end of our expectations. On a reported basis revenues declined to £2,207.1m (2014: £2,870.1m), reflecting a reduction in First ScotRail subsidy (with a matching reduction in track access charges, so does not affect operating profit), the end of revenue support arrangements in First Great Western and First Capital Connect, and the completion of the First Capital Connect franchise at the end of the first half. Adjusted operating profit was £74.1m (2014: £55.2m), representing a margin of 3.4% (2014: 1.9%), in part reflecting First Great Western moving to normal commercial terms part way through last year. Like-for-like passenger volumes increased by 4.2% in the year.

Focused and disciplined bidding

During the year the DfT has made progress in line with its UK rail refranchising timetable originally announced in March 2013 and updated periodically since then. As part of this timetable, we were pleased to sign two agreements in March 2015 with the DfT, securing First Great Western for up to four and a half more years and First TransPennine Express for an additional year. As a result we will continue to run our largest franchise First Great Western to at least 1 April 2019, with a further extension of up to one year at the DfT’s discretion. This underscores the DfT’s confidence in our ability to deliver stability, good value and better services for our passengers during the period in which the Great Western Mainline modernisation programme is being implemented. The programme involves significant upgrades to infrastructure including signalling and electrification, which will allow for new or refurbished trains on every part of the network, resulting in more frequent and faster journeys and an increase in the number of seats over the period to the end of the decade. We will also be running First TransPennine Express to the start of the next competitive franchise, expected on 1 April 2016 (the contract includes an extension clause of up to 11 months at the DfT’s discretion). As one of three shortlisted bidders for that competition, we submitted our bid proposal at the end of May. The new franchise is due to be awarded in October 2015.

Naturally we were disappointed not to secure any of the franchise competition awards announced in the year. As a result two of our franchises ended during the year, with First Capital Connect and First ScotRail being handed over to their new operators on 14 September 2014 and 1 April 2015 respectively. Our approach to bidding for UK rail franchises has been and will continue to be disciplined, aiming to deliver ambitious improvements for passengers and appropriate returns for shareholders, at an acceptable level of risk.

Continuous improvement in operating and financial performance

Our operating companies have continued to outperform the industry in delivering punctuality and customer satisfaction improvements since 2006, despite some significant infrastructure challenges over that time. We pioneered closer partnership working with Network Rail and other industry participants to deliver infrastructure upgrade projects whilst minimising disruption for passengers, expertise which is increasingly vital as the Government’s reinvestment in the national rail infrastructure continues to increase over the coming years. One of the largest such programmes is the £7.5bn Great Western Mainline upgrade, where First Great Western will continue to support the substantial infrastructure upgrade work taking place throughout the network, as well as preparations for the introduction of the InterCity Express Programme, Crossrail and a new fleet of local electric trains. In the year, the £895m Reading area remodelling project saw the entry into operation of a new viaduct, substantially increasing capacity at a major network bottleneck, and the reopening of the upgraded Reading station itself. The overall project remains a year ahead of schedule thanks in part to excellent partnership working across the industry. First Capital Connect supported the preparations for the Class 700 train fleet introduction during the year as part of the £6bn Thameslink Programme. First TransPennine Express began operating new trains and an upgraded timetable in May 2014, delivering 90,000 extra seats per week, benefiting from the Government’s North of England electrification projects, part of a national investment of more than £1bn in the North’s railways, and helping central and local government achieve its vision for a ‘Northern Powerhouse’.

Prudent investment in our key assets

We continue to innovate and invest in our service offerings for passengers. First Great Western has reconfigured its carriages to deliver 3,000 more peak time standard class seats into Paddington station per day. As part of the project, the first class experience on First Great Western has been upgraded and additional Pullman dining services introduced. First Great Western has also invested in additional customer-facing employees on long distance routes.

During the year we continued to progress the roll out of free Wi-Fi services both on-train and in-station throughout the First Great Western and First ScotRail networks, while First Hull Trains won innovation awards for its free 4G single-sign-up Wi-Fi service. First ScotRail has also rolled out smart ticketing-enabled equipment at more than 300 stations during the year, the largest such project in the UK, and the experience gained is being used to determine the most effective approach to similar introductions across our other franchises. During the year we became the first rail operator to give passengers the opportunity to earn Nectar loyalty points when booking their journeys online.

In the year First Great Western and First TransPennine Express became accredited with Investors in People Gold status, joining First ScotRail in achieving the UK’s most recognised employee investment award.

Responsible partnerships with our customers and communities

In the latest Transport Focus survey (completed during the autumn) First ScotRail, First Great Western and First Hull Trains achieved year-on-year improvements in overall customer satisfaction, while First TransPennine Express saw a decrease related to service issues after introduction of the new timetable, which have since been rectified.

During the year First TransPennine Express was the first train operating company to win the British Quality Foundation UK Excellence Award, which recognises high performing businesses as assessed against the European Foundation for Quality Management model. First Great Western succeeded First ScotRail as Rail Business of the Year at the national Rail Business Awards, while both First Hull Trains and First TransPennine Express were runners-up for Best Train Operator. First Great Western also received a special award jointly with Network Rail, recognising their response to the collapse of the sea wall at Dawlish.

Future priorities

We have been actively involved in the UK rail industry since privatisation and have a breadth of experience and expertise in running every type of network. Our management team has been involved in some of the highest profile infrastructure and rolling stock upgrade programmes of recent years, experiences that are increasingly important as reinvestment in the national rail network continues to gather pace over the coming years. Having secured First Great Western until at least March 2019, we have a strong position in rail to build on over the medium term. Approximately two thirds of the UK rail network by passenger revenue is expected to be refranchised over the next five years, and our approach to these competitions will continue to be disciplined. We will examine each franchise on its merits and decide whether it presents an opportunity to deliver ambitious improvements for passengers and appropriate returns for shareholders, at an acceptable level of risk.

Outlook

In the year ahead we expect our ongoing rail operations (First Great Western, First TransPennine Express and First Hull Trains) to deliver solid revenue growth underpinned by continued increases in passenger volumes. However, UK Rail’s contribution to Group earnings will be substantially lower in 2015/16 following the end of the First Capital Connect and First ScotRail franchises. Having submitted our proposal for the TransPennine Express franchise in May 2015, we look forward to the announcement of the competition winner in October. We were recently shortlisted for the East Anglia competition, and we will examine the other upcoming franchise competition opportunities in the DfT’s timetable before determining whether to proceed with a bid.

Group Outlook

Finance costs and investment income

Net finance costs before adjustments were £139.7m (2014: £156.1m) with the decrease principally reflecting lower debt levels following the rights issue which completed part way through last year, and lower interest rates as a result of cancelling certain interest rate swaps and having more floating rate debt.

Profit before tax

Adjusted profit before tax as set out in note 4 to the financial statements was £163.9m (2014: £111.9m), with the increase due principally to higher adjusted operating profit and lower adjusted net finance costs. An overall charge of £58.1m (2014: £53.4m) for adjustments including amortisation charges of £54.3m (2014: £53.4m) resulted in statutory profit before tax of £105.8m (2014: £58.5m).

Tax

The tax charge, on adjusted profit before tax, for the year was £36.1m (2014: £22.4m) representing an effective rate of 22.0% (2014: 20.0%). There was a tax credit of £15.8m (2014: credit of £24.9m) relating to amortisation charges and other adjustments. The total tax charge was £20.3m (2014: credit of £5.7m). The 2014 total tax credit also included a one-off credit adjustment of £3.2m to the UK deferred tax liability as a result of the reduction in the UK corporation tax rate from 23% to 20%, which will apply from April 2016. The actual tax paid during the year was £4.5m (2014: £8.2m).

EPS

Adjusted EPS increased by 30.7% to 9.8p (2014: 7.5p). Basic EPS increased 21.6% to 6.2p (2014: 5.1p), with both improvements primarily due to higher operating profit and lower net finance costs.

EBITDA

EBITDA by division is set out below:

		Year to 31 March 2015			Year to 31 March 2014
	Revenue		EBITDA¹	EBITDA margin¹	Revenue	EBITDA¹	EBITDA margin¹
Divisional results	£m		£m	%	£m	£m	%
First Student	1,478.8		260.9	17.6%	1,467.4	241.1	16.4%
First Transit	844.8		72.1	8.5%	811.9	72.0	8.9%
Greyhound	609.6		73.1	12.0%	624.6	74.9	12.0%
UK Bus	896.1		118.5	13.2%	930.2	105.9	11.4%
UK Rail	2,207.1		137.8	6.2%	2,870.1	117.1	4.1%
Group	14.3		(38.0)		13.2	(31.2)
Total Group	6,050.7		624.4	10.3%	6,717.4	579.8	8.6%
North America in US Dollars	$m		$m	%	$m	$m	%
First Student	2,368.6		412.5	17.4%	2,339.3	387.2	16.6%
First Transit	1,362.1		116.1	8.5%	1,290.5	114.4	8.9%
Greyhound	986.0		119.1	12.1%	990.6	118.4	12.0%
Total North America	4,716.7		647.7	13.7%	4,620.4	620.0	13.4%

¹Adjusted operating profit less capital grant amortisation plus depreciation.

Reconciliation to non-GAAP measures and performance

Note 4 to the financial statements sets out the reconciliations of operating profit and profit before tax to their adjusted equivalents. The principal reconciling items are as follows:

Amortisation charges

The charge for the year was £54.3m (2014: £53.4m).

Gain on disposal of property

A gain on disposal of £25.3m (2014: £nil) was realised on the sale of a Greyhound garage in Miami. The proceeds of this disposal of £31.6m were received during the year.

Legal claims

Two separate legal claims that pre-date the Laidlaw acquisition and were acquired with the former Laidlaw entities had adverse developments during the year and we now estimate that it will cost significantly more to settle these cases. As a result there was a charge of £12.2m (2014: £nil).

IT licences

A number of Group IT licences have been written off as the projects to which they relate will now be achieved in an alternative, less costly and more appropriate way. The charge for these licences was £8.7m (2014: £nil).

UK Bus depot sales and closures

There was a charge of £7.5m (2014: credit of £13.0m) in the year relating to operating losses and fixed asset impairments. The credit in 2014 largely represents the gain on disposal of London operations.

UK Rail First Great Western contract provision

There was a charge of £nil (2014: credit of £4.6m) in the year. The credit in 2014 reflected the fact that losses in the final seven periods of the old franchise were not as high as initially projected, partly due to contractual changes agreed with the DfT.

Ineffectiveness on financial derivatives

There was a £0.3m (2014: £17.6m) non-cash charge during the year due to ineffectiveness on financial derivatives. The principal component of the 2014 charge related to certain US Dollar swaps which were no longer required as the underlying borrowings were repaid from proceeds of the rights issue.

Cash Flow

The net cash inflow for the year before UK Rail end of franchise cash flows was £39.4m (2014: £26.9m). This cash inflow combined with the end of franchise outflows of £107.9m (£58.7m for First Capital Connect and £49.2m for First ScotRail) and movements in debt due to foreign exchange contributed to a net debt increase of £103.5m (2014: decrease of £675.3m) as detailed below:

	Year to 31 March 2015	Year to 31 March 2014
	£m	£m
EBITDA	624.4	579.8
Other non-cash income statement (credits)/charges	(14.0)	7.8
Working capital excluding FGW provision movement and UK Rail end of franchise cash flows	(11.6)	(37.0)
Working capital – FGW provision movement (current liabilities)	-	(35.3)
Movement in other provisions	(27.2)	(36.1)
Pension payments in excess of income statement charge	(12.3)	(27.7)
Cash generated by operations excluding UK Rail end of franchise cash flows	559.3	451.5
Capital expenditure	(428.9)	(334.5)
Acquisitions	(11.0)	-
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment	47.5	14.1
Interest and tax	(124.4)	(157.2)
Dividends payable to non-controlling minority shareholders	(2.0)	(21.3)
Proceeds from sale of businesses	-	76.3
Other	(1.1)	(2.0)
Net cash inflow before UK Rail end of franchise cash flows	39.4	26.9
UK Rail end of franchise cash flows	(107.9)	-
Net proceeds from rights issue	-	584.4
Foreign exchange movements	(31.7)	68.2
Other non-cash movements in relation to financial instruments	(3.3)	(4.2)
Movement in net debt in year	(103.5)	675.3

The net cash inflow before UK Rail end of franchise cash flows was slightly higher than the prior year, principally reflecting stronger cash generation by operations, lower tax and interest payments and higher proceeds from disposals of property, plant and equipment, partly offset by the planned higher capital expenditure and the London disposal proceeds last year.

We expect there will be a further working capital outflow of approximately £30m in 2015/16 as a result of the end of UK Rail franchises.

Capital Expenditure

As planned we continue to invest in our businesses. Cash capital expenditure was £428.9m (2014: £334.5m) and comprised First Student £174.9m (2014: £130.8m), First Transit £21.6m (2014: £18.1m), Greyhound £49.8m (2014: £45.8m), UK Bus £104.1m (2014: £67.4m), UK Rail £75.0m (2014: £68.5m) and Group items £3.5m (2014: £3.9m). UK Rail capital expenditure is typically matched by franchise receipts.

In addition during the year we entered into operating leases for passenger carrying vehicles with capital values in First Student of £nil (2014: £25.2m), First Transit of £9.2m (2014: £19.5m), Greyhound of £nil (2014: £14.7m) and UK Bus of £nil (2014: £24.3m).

Gross capital investment was £425.1m (2014: £464.7m) and comprised First Student £170.4m (2014: £194.3m), First Transit £30.3m (2014: £37.2m), Greyhound £50.9m (2014: £60.5m), UK Bus £93.9m (2014: £101.7m), UK Rail £76.1m (2014: £69.4m) and Group items £3.5m (2014: £1.6m).

Funding and Risk Management

Liquidity within the Group has remained strong. At 31 March 2015 there was £1,023.8m (2014: £988.5m) of committed headroom and free cash, being £800.0m (2014: £796.2m) of committed headroom and £223.8m (2014: £192.3m) of free cash. Largely due to the seasonality of First Student, committed headroom typically reduces during the financial year up to October and increases thereafter. Treasury policy requires a minimum of £250m of committed headroom at all times. Our average debt maturity was 5.2 years (2014: 6.1 years). The Group’s main revolving bank facilities require renewal in June 2019.

The Group does not enter into speculative financial transactions and uses only authorised financial instruments for certain risk management purposes.

Interest Rate Risk

We reduce our exposure by using a combination of fixed rate debt and interest rate derivatives to achieve an overall fixed rate position over the medium term of more than 75% of net debt.

Fuel Price Risk

We use a progressive forward hedging programme to manage commodity risk. In 2014/15 in the UK, 93% of our ‘at risk’ crude requirements (2.2m barrels p.a.) were hedged at an average rate of $101 per barrel. At year end we had hedged 65% of our ‘at risk’ UK crude requirements for the year to 31 March 2016 at $97 per barrel and 34% of our requirements for the year to 31 March 2017 at $89 per barrel.

In North America 81% of 2014/15 ‘at risk’ crude oil volumes (1.5m barrels p.a.) were hedged at an average rate of $90 per barrel. At year end we had hedged 71% of the volumes for the year to 31 March 2016 at $86 per barrel and 36% of our volumes for the year to 31 March 2017 at $83 per barrel.

Foreign Currency Risk

Group policies on foreign currency risk affecting cash flow, profits and net assets are maintained to minimise exposures to the Group by using a combination of natural hedge positions and derivative instruments where appropriate. Translation risk relating to US Dollar earnings arising in the US is mitigated by US Dollar denominated costs incurred in the UK, principally UK fuel costs, US Dollar interest and tax costs.

Net Debt

The Group’s net debt at 31 March 2015 was £1,407.3m (2014: £1,303.8m) and comprised:

			31 March 2015	31 March 2014
	Fixed	Variable	Total	Total
Analysis of net debt	£m	£m	£m	£m
Sterling bond (2018)	297.8	-	297.8	297.5
Sterling bond (2019)	-	249.8	249.8	249.5
Sterling bond (2021)	-	348.2	348.2	347.5
Sterling bond (2022)	320.0	-	320.0	319.5
Sterling bond (2024)	199.5	-	199.5	199.5
HP contracts and finance leases	276.5	25.7	302.2	344.6
Senior unsecured loan notes	100.6	-	100.6	89.9
Loan notes	8.7	1.0	9.7	9.7
Gross debt excluding accrued interest	1,203.1	624.7	1,827.8	1.857.7
Cash			(223.8)	(192.3)
UK Rail ring-fenced cash and deposits			(196.0)	(360.9)
Other ring-fenced cash and deposits			(0.7)	(0.7)
Net debt excluding accrued interest			1,407.3	1,303.8

Under the terms of the UK Rail franchise agreements, cash can only be distributed by the TOCs either up to the lower amount of their retained profits or the amount determined by prescribed liquidity ratios. The ring-fenced cash represents that which is not available for distribution or the amount required to satisfy the liquidity ratio at the balance sheet date.

SHARES IN ISSUE

As at 31 March 2015 there were 1,203.7m shares in issue (2014: 1,204.2m), excluding treasury shares and own shares held in trust for employees of 1.2m (2014: 0.7m). The weighted average number of shares in issue for the purpose of basic EPS calculations (excluding treasury shares and own shares held in trust for employees) was 1,204.0m (2014: 1,059.3m).

BALANCE SHEET

Net assets have increased by £263.2m since the start of the year. The principal reasons for this are the retained profit for the year of £85.5m, favourable translation reserve movements of £223.9m and actuarial gains on defined benefit pension schemes (net of deferred tax) of £27.2m partly offset by unfavourable after tax hedging reserve movements of £63.3m.

GOODWILL

The carrying value (net assets including goodwill but excluding intercompany balances) of each cash generating unit (CGU) was tested for impairment during the year and there continues to be sufficient headroom in all of the CGUs.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

The most significant exchange rates to Sterling for the Group are as follows:

	Year to 31 March 2015		Year to 31 March 2014
	Closing rate	Effective rate	Closing rate	Effective rate
US Dollar	1.49	1.58	1.66	1.61
Canadian Dollar	1.88	1.83	1.84	1.69

PENSIONS

We have updated our pension assumptions as at 31 March 2015 for the defined benefit schemes in the UK and North America. The net pension deficit of £260.7m at the beginning of the year has decreased to £239.4m at the end of the year principally due to actual returns on assets more than offsetting lower net discount rates in the UK and North America.

The main factors that influence the balance sheet position for pensions and the sensitivities to their movement at 31 March 2015 are set out below:

	Movement	Impact
Discount rate	+0.1%	Reduce deficit by £32m
Inflation	+0.1%	Increase deficit by £24m

SEASONALITY

First Student generates lower revenues and profits in the first half of the financial year than in the second half of the year as the school summer holidays fall into the first half. Greyhound operating profits are typically higher in the first half of the year due to demand being stronger in the summer months.

Forward looking statements

Certain statements included or incorporated by reference within this document may constitute “forward-looking statements" with respect to the business, strategy and plans of the Group and our current goals, assumptions and expectations relating to our future financial condition, performance and results.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors which cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Group to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Shareholders are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Except as required by the UK Listing Rules and applicable law, the Group does not undertake any obligation to update or change any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the date of this document.

Other information

Unless otherwise stated, all financial figures refer to the 12 month period ended 31 March 2015 (the ‘year’), with growth compared to the 12 months to 31 March 2014 (the ‘prior year’). No account is taken of foreign exchange translation effects in the description of divisional performances and outlook.

GOING CONCERN

The Group has established a strong balanced portfolio of businesses with approximately 50% of Group revenues secured under medium term contracts with government agencies and other large organisations in the UK and North America.

The Group has a diversified funding structure with average debt duration at 31 March 2015 of 5.2 years (2014: 6.1 years) and which is largely represented by medium term unsecured bank facilities and long term unsecured bond debt. The Group has an £800m committed revolving banking facility of which £800m (2014: $1,200m under previous $1,250m facility) was undrawn at the year end. This new facility has a maturity of June 2019.

The Directors have carried out a detailed review of the Group’s budget for the year to 31 March 2016 and medium term plans, with due regard for the risks and uncertainties to which the Group is exposed, the uncertain economic climate and the impact that this could have on trading performance. Based on this review, the Directors believe that the Company and the Group have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

Tim O’Toole Chris Surch

Chief Executive Group Finance Director

10 June 2015 10 June 2015

Consolidated income statement
For the year ended 31 March

	Notes	2015 £m	2014 £m
Revenue	2	6,050.7	6,717.4
Operating costs		(5,804.9)	(6,485.2)
Operating profit		245.8	232.2
Investment income		1.8	1.7
Finance costs		(141.8)	(175.4)
Profit before tax		105.8	58.5
Tax		(20.3)	5.7
Profit for the year		85.5	64.2
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent		75.2	54.2
Non-controlling interests		10.3	10.0
		85.5	64.2
Earnings per share
Basic	5	6.2p	5.1p
Diluted	5	6.2p	5.1p
Adjusted results¹
Adjusted operating profit	4	303.6	268.0
Adjusted profit before tax	4	163.9	111.9
Adjusted EPS	5	9.8p	7.5p

1 Adjusted for certain items as set out in note 4.

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
Year ended 31 March

	2015 £m	2014 £m
Profit for the year	85.5	64.2

Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit pension schemes	33.9	(33.5)
Deferred tax on actuarial gains/losses on defined benefit pension schemes	(6.7)	3.0
	27.2	(30.5)
Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss
Derivative hedging instrument movements	(89.9)	44.3
Deferred tax on derivative hedging instrument movements	26.6	(3.9)
Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations	223.9	(231.1)
	160.6	(190.7)

Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the year	187.8	(221.2)

Total comprehensive income/(expense) for the year	273.3	(157.0)
Attributable to:
Equity holders of the parent	263.0	(167.0)
Non-controlling interests	10.3	10.0
	273.3	(157.0)

Consolidated balance sheet
Year ended 31 March

	Note	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Non-current assets
Goodwill	6	1,659.2	1,509.5	1,665.8
Other intangible assets	7	197.0	217.9	281.8
Property, plant and equipment	8	2,027.1	1,864.9	1,977.6
Deferred tax assets	16	60.5	35.8	53.2
Retirement benefit assets		32.9	29.9	15.4
Derivative financial instruments	15	45.3	25.9	63.3
Investments		3.1	2.8	3.2
		4,025.1	3,686.7	4,060.3
Current assets
Inventories	9	69.9	71.4	79.9
Trade and other receivables	10	716.6	663.6	641.0
Cash and cash equivalents		420.5	553.9	682.1
Assets held for sale		1.4	6.2	44.7
Derivative financial instruments	15	15.5	26.0	23.3
		1,223.9	1,321.1	1,471.0
Total assets		5,249.0	5,007.8	5,531.3
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables	11	1,139.0	1,219.8	1,256.7
Tax liabilities		35.3	34.2	28.7
Financial liabilities	12	136.0	127.8	441.3
Derivative financial instruments	15	74.5	17.7	64.7
		1,384.8	1,399.5	1,791.4
Net current liabilities		160.9	78.4	320.4
Non-current liabilities
Financial liabilities	12	1,805.7	1,823.9	2,317.4
Derivative financial instruments	15	22.6	9.2	21.7
Retirement benefit liabilities		272.3	290.6	263.2
Deferred tax liabilities	16	40.7	37.0	62.2
Provisions	17	236.7	224.6	260.9
		2,378.0	2,385.3	2,925.4
Total liabilities		3,762.8	3,784.8	4,716.8
Net assets		1,486.2	1,223.0	814.5
Equity
Share capital	18	60.2	60.2	24.1
Share premium		676.4	676.4	676.4
Hedging reserve		(55.5)	7.8	(32.6)
Other reserves		4.6	4.6	4.6
Own shares		(1.9)	(1.8)	(1.1)
Translation reserve		241.7	17.8	248.9
Retained earnings		533.1	446.4	(130.5)
Equity attributable to equity holders of the parent		1,458.6	1,211.4	789.8
Non-controlling interests		27.6	11.6	24.7
Total equity		1,486.2	1,223.0	814.5

Consolidated statement of changes in equity

	Share capital £m	Share premium £m	Hedging reserve £m	Other reserves £m	Own shares £m	Translation reserve £m	Retained earnings £m	Total £m	Non- controlling interests £m	Total equity £m
Balance at 1 April 2013	24.1	676.4	(32.6)	4.6	(1.1)	248.9	(130.5)	789.8	24.7	814.5
Rights issue¹	36.1	–	–	–	–	–	548.3	584.4	–	584.4
Total comprehensive income for the year	–	–	40.4	–	–	(231.1)	23.7	(167.0)	10.0	(157.0)
Dividends paid	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	(23.1)	(23.1)
Movement in EBT and treasury shares	–	–	–	–	(0.7)	–	0.3	(0.4)	–	(0.4)
Share-based payments	–	–	–	–	–	–	4.6	4.6	–	4.6
Balance at 31 March 2014	60.2	676.4	7.8	4.6	(1.8)	17.8	446.4	1,211.4	11.6	1,223.0
Total comprehensive income for the year	–	–	(63.3)	–	–	223.9	102.4	263.0	10.3	273.3
Purchase of non-controlling interests²	–	–	–	–	–	–	(7.0)	(7.0)	(4.0)	(11.0)
Acquisition of non-controlling interests	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	11.7	11.7
Non-controlling interests put option³	–	–	–	–	–	–	(12.8)	(12.8)	–	(12.8)
Dividends paid	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	(2.0)	(2.0)
Movement in EBT and treasury shares	–	–	–	–	(0.1)	–	(1.0)	(1.1)	–	(1.1)
Share-based payments	–	–	–	–	–	–	5.2	5.2	–	5.2
Deferred tax on share-based payments	–	–	–	–	–	–	(0.1)	(0.1)	–	(0.1)
Balance at 31 March 2015	60.2	676.4	(55.5)	4.6	(1.9)	241.7	533.1	1,458.6	27.6	1,486.2

1 The rights issue which completed in June 2013 was effected through a legal structure that resulted in the excess of the proceeds over the nominal value of the share capital being recognised within retained earnings as a distributable reserve.

2 On 14 August 2014, the Group purchased the non-controlling interests share of Hull Trains Limited for a consideration of £3.0m and on 24 March 2015, the Group purchased the non-controlling interests share of Cardinal Coach Lines UCL for a consideration of CAD$17.0m. As both of these represent a transaction with minority equity owners of the business without a change of control, they have been recognised as an equity transaction in the Group’s reserves and not as a business combination or investment.

3 On 25 August 2014, the Group completed the acquisition of a 51% share in Miles Square Transportation, Inc, a school bus transportation company based in New York. Included within the purchase agreement is a put option for the Group to purchase the remaining 49% from the non-controlling interest party for a fixed price of US$19.1m. As the put option is a contract to purchase the Group’s own equity instruments it gives rise to a financial liability for the fixed price amount in accordance with paragraph 23 in IAS 32. The financial liability has been recognised in the balance sheet and the initial recognition is treated as reclassified from equity.

Consolidated cash flow statement
Year ended 31 March

	Note	2015 £m	2014 £m
Net cash from operating activities	19	325.2	292.3

Investing activities
Interest received		1.8	2.0
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment		47.5	14.1
Purchases of property, plant and equipment		(428.9)	(277.0)
Acquisition of subsidiary/business		(11.0)	–
Disposal of subsidiary/business		–	76.3
Net cash used in investing activities		(390.6)	(184.6)
Financing activities
Dividends paid to non-controlling shareholders		(2.0)	(21.3)
Shares purchased by Employee Benefit Trust		(1.1)	(2.0)
Proceeds from rights issue		–	614.4
Fees paid on rights issue		–	(30.0)
Repayment of bonds		–	(300.0)
Drawdowns from bank facilities		–	20.1
Repayment of bank debt		–	(416.9)
Repayments under HP contracts and finance leases		(67.9)	(101.8)
Fees for bank facility amendments		(4.7)	–
Net cash flow from financing activities		(75.7)	(237.5)
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents before foreign exchange movements		(141.1)	(129.8)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year		553.9	682.1
Foreign exchange movements		7.7	1.6
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year per consolidated balance sheet		420.5	553.9

Cash and cash equivalents are included within current assets on the consolidated balance sheet.

Note to the consolidated cash flow statement –
reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt

	2015 £m	2014 £m
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents in year	(141.1)	(129.8)
Decrease in debt and finance leases	67.9	798.6
Inception of new HP contracts and finance leases	–	(57.5)
Fees capitalised against bank facilities	4.7	–
Net cash flow	(68.5)	611.3
Foreign exchange movements	(31.7)	68.2
Other non-cash movements in relation to financial instruments	(3.3)	(4.2)
Movement in net debt in year	(103.5)	675.3
Net debt at beginning of year	(1,303.8)	(1,979.1)
Net debt at end of year	(1,407.3)	(1,303.8)

Net debt excludes all accrued interest.

Notes to the consolidated financial statements

1 General information

The financial information set out above does not constitute the Company’s Statutory Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2015 or 2014, but is derived from those accounts. Statutory Accounts for 2014 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and those for 2015 will be delivered following the Company’s Annual General Meeting. The auditors have reported on both sets of account; their reports were unqualified and did not contain statements under section 498 (2), (3) or (4) of the Companies Act 2006.

Whilst the financial information included in this preliminary announcement has been computed in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), this announcement does not in itself contain sufficient information to comply with IFRSs. The financial information has been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies as set out in the Statutory Accounts for 2014.

Copies of the Statutory Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2015 will be available to all shareholders in June and will also be available thereafter at the Registered Office of the Company at 395 King Street, Aberdeen, AB24 5RP.

2 Revenue

	2015 £m	2014 £m
Services rendered	5,717.4	5,908.3
UK Rail franchise subsidy receipts	333.3	572.1
UK Rail revenue support	–	237.0
	6,050.7	6,717.4
Finance income	1.8	1.7
Total revenue as defined by IAS 18	6,052.5	6,719.1

3 Business segments and geographical information

For management purposes, the Group is organised into five operating divisions – First Student, First Transit, Greyhound, UK Bus and UK Rail. These divisions are managed separately in line with the differing services that they provide and the geographical markets which they operate in. The principal activities of these divisions are described in the Strategic report.

The segment results for the year to 31 March 2015 are as follows:

	First Student £m	First Transit £m	Greyhound £m	UK Bus £m	UK Rail £m	Group items¹ £m	Total £m
Revenue	1,478.8	844.8	609.6	896.1	2,207.1	14.3	6,050.7
EBITDA²	260.9	72.1	73.1	118.5	137.8	(38.0)	624.4
Depreciation	(146.0)	(12.4)	(31.4)	(66.7)	(96.2)	(0.6)	(353.3)
Capital grant amortisation	–	–	–	–	32.5	–	32.5
Segment results²	114.9	59.7	41.7	51.8	74.1	(38.6)	303.6
Amortisation charges	(39.8)	(3.4)	(2.9)	–	(8.2)	–	(54.3)
Other adjustments	(12.2)	–	25.3	(7.9)	–	(8.7)	(3.5)
Operating profit³	62.9	56.3	64.1	43.9	65.9	(47.3)	245.8
Investment income							1.8
Finance costs							(141.5)
Ineffectiveness on financial derivatives							(0.3)
Profit before tax							105.8
Tax							(20.3)
Profit after tax							85.5

The segment results for the year to 31 March 2014 are as follows:

	First Student £m	First Transit £m	Greyhound £m	UK Bus £m	UK Rail £m	Group items¹ £m	Total £m
Revenue	1,467.4	811.9	624.6	930.2	2,870.1	13.2	6,717.4
EBITDA²	241.1	72.0	74.9	105.9	117.1	(31.2)	579.8
Depreciation	(147.6)	(11.7)	(28.5)	(61.5)	(94.3)	(0.6)	(344.2)
Capital grant amortisation	–	–	–	–	32.4	–	32.4
Segment results²	93.5	60.3	46.4	44.4	55.2	(31.8)	268.0
Amortisation charges	(41.5)	(3.9)	(3.0)	–	(5.0)	–	(53.4)
Other adjustments	–	–	–	13.0	4.6	–	17.6
Operating profit³	52.0	56.4	43.4	57.4	54.8	(31.8)	232.2
Investment income							1.7
Finance costs							(157.8)
Ineffectiveness on financial derivatives							(17.6)
Profit before tax							58.5
Tax							5.7
Profit after tax							64.2

1 Group items comprise Tram operations, central management and other items.

2 Adjusted.

3 Although the segment results are used by management to measure performance, statutory operating profit by operating division is also disclosed for completeness.

4 Reconciliation to non-gaap measures and performance

In measuring the Group adjusted performance, additional financial measures derived from the reported results have been used in order to eliminate factors which distort year on year comparisons. The Group’s adjusted performance is used to explain year on year changes when the effect of certain items are significant, including amortisation, business disposals, aged legal claims and revisions to onerous contracts, as the Directors consider that this basis more appropriately reflects operating performance and a better understanding of the key performance indicators of the business.

Reconciliation of operating profit to adjusted operating profit	Year to 31 March 2015 £m	Year to 31 March 2014 £m
Operating profit	245.8	232.2
Adjustments for:
Amortisation charges	54.3	53.4
Gain on disposal of property	(25.3)	–
Legal claims	12.2	–
IT licences	8.7	–
UK Bus depot sales and closures	7.5	(13.0)
UK Rail First Great Western contract provision	–	(4.6)
Other	0.4	–
Adjusted operating profit (note 3)	303.6	268.0

Reconciliation of profit before tax to adjusted profit before tax	Year to 31 March 2015 £m	Year to 31 March 2014 £m
Profit before tax	105.8	58.5
Adjustments for:
Amortisation charges	54.3	53.4
Gain on disposal of property	(25.3)	–
Legal claims	12.2	–
IT licences	8.7	–
UK Bus depot sales and closures	7.5	(13.0)
Ineffectiveness on financial derivatives	0.3	17.6
UK Rail First Great Western contract provision	–	(4.6)
Other	0.4	–
Adjusted profit before tax	163.9	111.9
Adjusted tax charge	(36.1)	(22.4)
Non-controlling interests	(10.3)	(10.2)
Adjusted earnings	117.5	79.3

5 Earnings per share (EPS)

EPS is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to equity shareholders of £75.2m (2014: £54.2m) by the weighted average number of ordinary shares of 1,204.0m (2014: 1,059.3m). The number of ordinary shares used for the basic and diluted calculations are shown in the table below.

The difference in the number of shares between the basic calculation and the diluted calculation represents the weighted average number of potentially dilutive ordinary share options.

	2015 Number m	2014 Number m
Weighted average number of shares used in basic calculation	1,204.0	1,059.3
Executive share options	3.6	3.0
Weighted average number of shares used in the diluted calculation	1,207.6	1,062.3

The adjusted EPS is intended to highlight the recurring results of the Group before amortisation charges, ineffectiveness on financial derivatives and certain other adjustments as set out in note 4. A reconciliation is set out below:

	2015		2014
	£m	EPS (p)	£m	EPS (p)
Basic profit/EPS	75.2	6.2	54.2	5.1
Amortisation charges¹	54.3	4.5	53.2	5.0
Ineffectiveness on financial derivatives	0.3	–	17.6	1.7
Other adjustments (note 4)	3.5	0.3	(17.6)	(1.7)
Tax effect of above adjustments	(15.8)	(1.2)	(24.9)	(2.3)
Deferred tax credit due to change in UK corporation tax rate	–	–	(3.2)	(0.3)
Adjusted profit/EPS	117.5	9.8	79.3	7.5

1 Amortisation charges of £54.3m per note 7 less £nil (2014: £53.4m less £0.2m) attributable to equity non-controlling interests.

Diluted EPS	2015 pence	2014 pence
Basic	6.2	5.1
Adjusted	9.7	7.5

6 Goodwill

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Cost
At 1 April	1,513.5	1,669.8	1,604.3
Additions	1.7	–	–
Disposals	–	(7.7)	(11.5)
Foreign exchange movements	148.0	(148.6)	77.0
At 31 March	1,663.2	1,513.5	1,669.8
Accumulated impairment losses
At 1 April	4.0	4.0	5.0
Impairment losses for the year	–	–	4.0
Disposals	–	–	(5.0)
At 31 March	4.0	4.0	4.0
Carrying amount
At 31 March	1,659.2	1,509.5	1,665.8

7 Other intangible assets

	Customer contracts £m	Greyhound brand and trade name £m	Rail franchise agreements £m	Total £m
Cost
At 1 April 2013	400.3	64.8	57.7	522.8
Additions	1.6	–	13.7	15.3
Disposals	–	–	(35.3)	(35.3)
Foreign exchange movements	(39.7)	(6.7)	–	(46.4)
At 31 March 2014	362.2	58.1	36.1	456.4
Acquisitions	15.8	–	–	15.8
Additions	0.3	–	–	0.3
Foreign exchange movements	36.5	5.2	–	41.7
At 31 March 2015	414.8	63.3	36.1	514.2
Amortisation
At 1 April 2013	167.6	18.3	55.1	241.0
Charge for year	45.4	3.0	5.0	53.4
Disposals	–	–	(35.3)	(35.3)
Foreign exchange movements	(18.5)	(2.1)	–	(20.6)
At 31 March 2014	194.5	19.2	24.8	238.5
Charge for year	43.3	2.9	8.1	54.3
Foreign exchange movements	22.5	1.9	–	24.4
At 31 March 2015	260.3	24.0	32.9	317.2

Carrying amount
At 31 March 2015	154.5	39.3	3.2	197.0
At 31 March 2014	167.7	38.9	11.3	217.9
At 31 March 2013	232.7	46.5	2.6	281.8

8 Property, plant and equipment

	Land and buildings £m	Passenger carrying vehicle fleet £m	Other plant and equipment £m	Total £m
Cost
At 1 April 2013	484.6	2,769.3	756.2	4,010.1
Additions in the year	15.4	259.1	106.5	381.0
Disposals	(10.1)	(98.0)	(16.9)	(125.0)
Reclassified as held for sale	(10.2)	(69.2)	–	(79.4)
Foreign exchange movements	(27.8)	(204.9)	(20.4)	(253.1)
At 31 March 2014	451.9	2,656.3	825.4	3,933.6
Additions in the year	32.0	281.8	102.1	415.9
Acquisitions	–	7.8	–	7.8
Disposals	(7.4)	(99.3)	(100.2)	(206.9)
Impairment	–	–	(8.7)	(8.7)
Reclassified as held for sale	–	(64.4)	–	(64.4)
Foreign exchange movements	20.6	196.0	23.8	240.4
At 31 March 2015	497.1	2,978.2	842.4	4,317.7

Accumulated depreciation and impairment
At 1 April 2013	95.1	1,400.3	537.1	2,032.5
Charge for year	9.9	209.5	124.8	344.2
Disposals	(3.5)	(97.2)	(15.9)	(116.6)
Reclassified as held for sale	(6.9)	(62.0)	–	(68.9)
Foreign exchange movements	(5.2)	(103.7)	(13.6)	(122.5)
At 31 March 2014	89.4	1,346.9	632.4	2,068.7
Charge for year	12.2	216.1	125.0	353.3
Disposals	(1.1)	(88.0)	(98.6)	(187.7)
Reclassified as held for sale	–	(63.0)	–	(63.0)
Foreign exchange movements	3.7	98.7	16.9	119.3
At 31 March 2015	104.2	1,510.7	675.7	2,290.6

Carrying amount
At 31 March 2015	392.9	1,467.5	166.7	2,027.1
At 31 March 2014	362.5	1,309.4	193.0	1,864.9
At 31 March 2013	389.5	1,369.0	219.1	1,977.6

9 Inventories

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Spare parts and consumables	69.8	71.3	79.7
Property development work in progress	0.1	0.1	0.2
	69.9	71.4	79.9

10 Trade and other receivables

Amounts due within one year	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Trade receivables	355.3	361.9	340.2
Provision for doubtful receivables	(2.3)	(2.9)	(3.2)
Other receivables	66.3	54.3	52.4
Other prepayments	126.1	117.6	116.6
Accrued income	171.2	132.7	135.0
	716.6	663.6	641.0

11 Trade and other payables

Amounts falling due within one year	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Trade payables	248.3	372.3	402.0
Other payables	225.9	212.4	184.3
Accruals	572.1	497.6	515.1
Deferred income	59.3	59.4	82.1
Season ticket deferred income	33.4	78.1	73.2
	1,139.0	1,219.8	1,256.7

12 Financial liabilities – borrowings

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
On demand or within 1 year
Finance leases (note 13)	77.0	68.9	62.7
Bond 6.875% (repayable 2013)	–	–	319.8
Bond 8.125% (repayable 2018)	12.9	12.9	12.8
Bond 6.125% (repayable 2019)	3.0	3.0	3.0
Bond 8.75% (repayable 2021)	30.1	30.1	30.1
Bond 5.25% (repayable 2022)	5.8	5.7	5.7
Bond 6.875% (repayable 2024)	7.2	7.2	7.2
Total current liabilities	136.0	127.8	441.3
Within 1 – 2 years
Syndicated loans	–	–	49.3
Finance leases (note 13)	69.4	70.4	63.3
Loan notes (note 14)	9.7	9.7	9.7
Senior unsecured loan notes	33.5	–	–
	112.6	80.1	122.3
Within 2 – 5 years
Syndicated loans	–	–	336.1
Finance leases (note 13)	140.3	159.7	203.3
Bond 8.125% (repayable 2018)	297.8	297.4	–
Bond 6.125% (repayable 2019)	286.3	284.5	–
Senior unsecured loan notes	67.1	89.9	98.3
	791.5	831.5	637.7
Over 5 years
Finance leases (note 13)	15.5	45.6	88.9
Bond 8.125% (repayable 2018)	–	–	297.1
Bond 6.125% (repayable 2019)	–	–	305.4
Bond 8.75% (repayable 2021)	366.6	347.6	347.4
Bond 5.25% (repayable 2022)	320.0	319.6	319.1
Bond 6.875% (repayable 2024)	199.5	199.5	199.5
	901.6	912.3	1,557.4

Total non-current liabilities at amortised cost	1,805.7	1,823.9	2,317.4

13 HP contracts and finance leases

The Group had the following obligations under HP contracts and finance leases as at the balance sheet dates:

	2015 Minimum payments £m	2015 Present value of payments £m	2014 Minimum payments £m	2014 Present value of payments £m	2013 Minimum payments £m	2013 Present value of payments £m
Due in less than one year	79.2	77.0	70.9	68.9	64.5	62.7
Due in more than one year but not more than two years	73.3	69.4	74.6	70.4	66.9	63.3
Due in more than two years but not more than five years	157.1	140.3	178.9	159.7	226.9	203.3
Due in more than five years	18.7	15.5	55.0	45.6	107.3	88.9
	328.3	302.2	379.4	344.6	465.6	418.2
Less future financing charges	(26.1)	–	(34.8)	–	(47.4)	–
	302.2	302.2	344.6	344.6	418.2	418.2

14 Loan notes

The Group had the following loan notes issued as at the balance sheet dates:

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Due in more than one year but not more than two years	9.7	9.7	9.7

15 Derivative financial instruments

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Total derivatives
Total non-current assets	45.3	25.9	63.3
Total current assets	15.5	26.0	23.3
Total assets	60.8	51.9	86.6
Total current liabilities	74.5	17.7	64.7
Total non-current liabilities	22.6	9.2	21.7
Total liabilities	97.1	26.9	86.4

Derivatives designated and effective as hedging instruments carried at fair value
Non-current assets
Cross currency swaps (net investment hedge)	–	–	15.2
Coupon swaps (fair value hedge)	45.3	24.1	45.7
Fuel derivatives (cash flow hedge)	–	1.8	2.4
	45.3	25.9	63.3
Current assets
Cross currency swaps (net investment hedge)	–	–	3.6
Coupon swaps (fair value hedge)	15.5	11.1	13.2
Fuel derivatives (cash flow hedge)	–	6.4	6.5
	15.5	17.5	23.3
Current liabilities
Interest rate derivatives (cash flow hedge)	–	–	8.1
Cross currency swaps (net investment hedge)	–	–	47.6
Fuel derivatives (cash flow hedge)	66.9	5.1	4.8
	66.9	5.1	60.5
Non-current liabilities
Interest rate derivatives (cash flow hedge)	–	–	11.8
Fuel derivatives (cash flow hedge)	21.4	1.3	0.8
	21.4	1.3	12.6
Derivatives classified as held for trading
Current assets
Interest rate swaps	–	8.5	–
Current liabilities
Interest rate swaps	7.6	12.6	4.2
Non-current liabilities
Interest rate swaps	1.2	7.9	9.1

16 Deferred tax

The major deferred tax liabilities/(assets) recognised by the Group and movements thereon during the current and prior reporting periods are as follows:

	Accelerated tax depreciation £m	Retirement benefit schemes £m	Other temporary differences £m	Tax losses £m	Total £m
At 1 April 2013	175.5	(78.1)	80.0	(168.4)	9.0
(Credit)/charge to income	(28.1)	2.1	43.3	(28.3)	(11.0)
Charge/(credit) to other comprehensive income	–	(3.0)	3.9	–	0.9
Foreign exchange movements	(11.0)	6.8	(11.4)	17.9	2.3
At 31 March 2014	136.4	(72.2)	115.8	(178.8)	1.2
Charge/(credit) to income	13.9	3.5	(18.9)	4.1	2.6
(Credit)/charge to other comprehensive income	–	6.7	(26.6)	–	(19.9)
Charge direct to equity	–	–	0.1	–	0.1
Acquisition of business/subsidiary	–	–	(0.9)	–	(0.9)
Foreign exchange movements	12.4	(5.4)	11.1	(21.0)	(2.9)
At 31 March 2015	162.7	(67.4)	80.6	(195.7)	(19.8)

Certain deferred tax assets and liabilities have been offset. The following is the analysis of the deferred tax balances for financial reporting purposes:

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Deferred tax assets	(60.5)	(35.8)	(53.2)
Deferred tax liabilities	40.7	37.0	62.2
	(19.8)	1.2	9.0

Deferred tax assets of £36.7m (2014: £36.1m) have not been recognised as it is not considered probable that there will be future profits against which these assets can be offset. The earliest period in which some of the assets will expire is year ended 31 March 2027.

No deferred tax asset has been recognised in respect of £nil (2014: £nil; 2013: £4m) of capital losses.

17 Provisions

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Insurance claims	205.5	191.6	216.2
Legal and other	28.1	29.6	40.8
Pensions	3.1	3.4	3.9
Non-current liabilities	236.7	224.6	260.9

	Insurance claims £m	Legal and other £m	FGW contract provision £m	Pensions £m	Total £m
At 1 April 2014	294.8	39.9	–	3.4	338.1
Charged to the income statement	142.5	14.8	–	–	157.3
Utilised in the year	(163.7)	(6.2)	–	(0.3)	(170.2)
Notional interest	15.2	–	–	–	15.2
Foreign exchange movements	27.4	0.9	–	–	28.3
At 31 March 2015	316.2	49.4	–	3.1	368.7

Current liabilities	110.7	21.3	–	–	132.0
Non-current liabilities	205.5	28.1	–	3.1	236.7
At 31 March 2015	316.2	49.4	–	3.1	368.7

Current liabilities	103.2	10.3	–	–	113.5
Non-current liabilities	191.6	29.6	–	3.4	224.6
At 31 March 2014	294.8	39.9	–	3.4	338.1

Current liabilities	116.4	10.0	39.9	–	166.3
Non-current liabilities	216.2	40.8	–	3.9	260.9
At 31 March 2013	332.6	50.8	39.9	3.9	427.2

18 Called up share capital

	2015 £m	2014 £m	2013 £m
Allotted, called up and fully paid
482.1m ordinary shares of 5p each	24.1	24.1	24.1
722.8m new ordinary shares of 5p each issued	36.1	36.1	–
1,204.9m ordinary shares of 5p each	60.2	60.2	24.1

19 Net cash from operating activities

	2015 £m	2014 £m
Operating profit	245.8	232.2
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges	353.3	344.2
Capital grant amortisation	(32.5)	(32.4)
Amortisation charges	54.3	53.4
Gain on disposal of businesses and subsidiary undertakings	–	(16.5)
Impairment charges	8.7	–
Share-based payments	5.2	4.6
(Profit)/loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment	(27.9)	3.2
Operating cash flows before working capital	606.9	588.7
Decrease in inventories	4.5	4.8
Increase in receivables	(7.5)	(60.0)
Decrease in payables	(113.0)	(18.2)
Decrease in provisions	(27.2)	(36.1)
Defined benefit pension payments in excess of income statement charge	(12.3)	(27.7)
Cash generated by operations	451.4	451.5
Tax paid	(4.5)	(8.2)
Interest paid	(112.2)	(138.1)
Interest element of HP contracts and finance leases	(9.5)	(12.9)
Net cash from operating activities	325.2	292.3

Responsibility Statement of the Directors on the Annual Report

The responsibility statement below has been prepared in connection with the Group’s full annual report for the year ending 31 March 2015. Certain parts thereof are not included within the announcement.

We confirm to the best of our knowledge:

the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole
the Management Report, which is incorporated into the Directors’ Report, includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

The Directors consider that the annual report and accounts, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and provides information necessary for the shareholders to assess the Company’s and the Group’s performance, business model and strategy.

By order of the Board.

Tim O’Toole Chris Surch

Chief Executive Group Finance Director

10 June 2015 10 June 2015

Firstgroup (PK) (USOTC:FGROY)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Dez 2024 bis Jan 2025

Click Here for more Firstgroup (PK) Charts.

Firstgroup (PK) (USOTC:FGROY)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jan 2024 bis Jan 2025

Marktdaten

News

Werkzeuge

Märkte

Entdecken

Hot Features

Follow Feed

Optionen-Flow

Watchlist

FGROY Firstgroup PLC (PK)

News

Kürzlich von Ihnen besucht

Unternehmen

Geschäft

Popular

App herunterladen

Trends

Toplisten

Marktdaten

News

Werkzeuge

Märkte

Entdecken

Hot Features

Follow Feed

Optionen-Flow

Watchlist

FGROY Firstgroup PLC (PK)

News

Kürzlich von Ihnen besucht

Unternehmen

Geschäft

Popular

App herunterladen