Newcastle transport group Go-Ahead has swung to a loss as the firm said it faces many challenges in the coronavirus era.
The company, which runs bus and train services around the UK and abroad, said that its buses are carrying between 50% and 60% of its usual passengers on regional buses across the UK, after recovering somewhat from the depths of lockdown.
The business reported a pre-tax loss of around £200,000 in the year ended June 27, a swing from last year’s £97m profit, though revenue rose 6.1% to £3.9bn.
Bosses said that they are unable to provide any “meaningful” financial guidance for the regional bus business because the coming months are still uncertain.
Go Ahead chief executive David Brown said: “We are in a very different place today than we were during the period of national lockdown in the UK.
“Services are now running at around 90% of pre-Covid-19 levels in our regional bus businesses, carrying 50 to 60% of typical passenger journeys, and around 90 per cent of our UK rail services are now in operation. However, the coming months remain uncertain for us all.”
He added: “The aftermath of the pandemic will undoubtedly present us with challenges. We may see increasing levels of home working, more online medical appointments and fewer international trips, all of which could impact demand for our services.
“However, we may see more domestic holidays, more people moving out of cities and commuting from the countryside and more activity in our local communities, with more home-workers shopping close to home and socialising in their local towns and cities.”
Go-Ahead, which employs 30,000 people around the world, announced £57.4m of impairments in the accounts, which included a number of restructuring programmes, franchise set-up costs and the termination of some contracts and routes.
But it said it had a resilient business model, with 90% of revenues secured through contracts with no revenue risk from changes in passenger demand
Earlier this week, Go-Ahead and other UK train operators were given temporary 18-month contracts to carry on running services, but warned that the current franchise system has effectively ended.
It also has rail operations in Germany, Denmark, and bus services in Ireland and Singapore.
